| ART “4”
“2”-DAY 27 November
v.6.a0 |
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Died on 27 November 1925:
Roger-Noël-François de la Fresnaye,
French Cubist-Fauvist
painter and draftsman born on 11 July 1885. — Although he was born at Le Mans, where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed, he came from an aristocratic family whose ancestral home, the Château de la Fresnaye, was near Falaise. His education, which was thorough and classically based, was followed by studies in Paris at the Académie Julian (1903–1904) and at the École des Beaux-Arts (1904–1905 and 1906–1908); from 1908 he studied at the Académie Ranson under Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier, whose joint influence is evident in early works such as Woman with Chrysanthemums (1909), which has the dreamlike Symbolist atmosphere and stylization characteristic of work by the Nabis. — LINKS –- Married Life (1912, 99x119cm; 812x1000pix, 95kb — .ZOOM to 1625x2000pix, 383kb) — Sitting Man (1914, 131x162cm; 600x735pix, 70kb _ ZOOM to 1653x2024pix, 302kb) — Guynemer (1923, 55x46cm) _ Refusé dans l'armée pour raison de santé en 1914, Georges-Marie Guynemer [24 Dec 1894 – 11 Sep 1917] devint élève mécanicien en novembre, puis élève pilote l'année suivante. Il a fait son premier vol le 17 Feb 1915. Il a obtenu sa première victoire le 19 Jul 1915, avant d'être blessé devant Verdun en mars 1916. Il reprendrit les commandes de son appareil au mois de mai et enchaîna les victoires avant d'être abattu lors du combat de Poelcapelle, par le lieutenant Kurt Wisseman [20 Mar 1893 – 30 Sep 1917] au dire des Allemands. Ce dernier fut abattu 19 jours plus tard, probablement pas, comme on l'avait cru, par René Fonck [27 Mar 1894 – 18 juin 1953]. Une plaque, apposée dans la crypte du Panthéon reprend les termes de la dernière citation de Guynemer disparu après avoir accumulé 755 heures de vol et 54 victoires: "Mort au champ d'honneur le 11 septembre 1917. Héros légendaire, tombé en plein ciel de gloire, après trois ans de lutte ardente. Restera le plus pur symbole des qualités de la race: ténacité indomptable, énergie farouche, courage sublime. Animé de la foi la plus inébranlable dans la victoire, il lègue au soldat français un souvenir impérissable qui exaltera l'esprit de sacrifice et provoquera les plus nobles émulations." — Le Diabolo (1914) — Artillerie (1911) — Nature morte aux trois anses (1912) — Paysage à La Ferté-sous-Jouarre final version (1911; 504x682pix, 36kb _ ZOOM to 755x1023pix, 77kb) _ Aux confins de la Brie et de la Champagne La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, bâtie sur les deux rives de la Marne, est située au confluent de la Marne et du Petit-Morin. Ses paysages sont très variés, vallonnés, boisés. Au IXe siècle une forteresse, bâtie sur une île au milieu de la rivière, veillait sur les religieux et paysans locaux. Anculfus, chef de guerre franc, lui donna son nom, Firmitas Anculfi, et construisit une ville fortifiée dans une île de la Marne, entre les hameaux de Saint Martin et de Condetz. Plusieures fois au cours des siècles le nom de la ville a été modifiée. Après Firmitas Anculfi elle deviendra Ferté-Ausculphe, puis La Ferté-Ancoul, La Ferté-Aucoul, Ferté-Aucol (nom qu'elle portera jusqu'à la Révolution française), La Ferté-sur-Marne, et La Ferté-sur-Morin. C'est en 1797 que l'administration municipale décidera l'actuelle dénomination de La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. Charles de Bourbon [22 Dec 1523 – 09 Sep 1590] est né à La Ferté. Il est devenu évêque à 16 ans, cardinal à 24 ans, a été mis en prison à 65 ans et y est resté jusqu'à sa mort, ayant été entretemps proclamé roi de France Charles X par le Parlement de Paris. Dès le XVIe siècle l'industrie meulière donna à La Ferté une certaine renommée, grâce à la qualité de sa pierre (Meulière, de "Meule", 1566: pierre à surface rugueuse, variété de calcaire siliceux) et au savoir-faire de ses meuliers (les moulins, de ce fait, fournissaient une farine d'excellente qualité). —(051126) |
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Died on 27 November 1958: Lucy Elizabeth Kemp~Welch,
British painter specialized in horses,
born on 20 June 1869. — Kemp-Welsh was born in Bournemouth, the daughter of Edwin Bueldand Kemp-Welsh. She demonstrated an early excellence in art — exhibiting for the first time when aged 14. At the age of 19 she went to study art at the school run by Hubert von Herkomer in Bushey, Hertfordshire. She has left a vivid record of Herkomer's rather extreme behavior, his irascibility, sarcasm, and severity. Happily she also records another facet of his character — his unstinting encouragement of what he regarded as promising work Lucy Kemp-Welsh regarded Herkomer as her mentor, and when his health started to deteriorate shortly before the First World War, she became principal of his school (1905-1926). She was an animal painter, largely of horses, and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1894. From the standpoint of the early 21" century it appears incomprehensible that Lucy Kemp-Welsh, like a number of other highly-talented women painters was not elected even an Associate of the Royal Academy. One of her pictures Colt hunting in the New Forest was purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for the nation. She became the first president of the Society of Animal Painters, formed in 1914, was a member of The Pastel Society from 1917, and a member of the Royal and British Colonial Society from 1920. Following the First World War in 1921 Kemp-Welch exhibited at the Paris Salon, and was awarded a bronze medal, in the following year exhibiting again at the Salon, and was awarded 5 silver medal. In 1938 she had a one-woman exhibition in Bond Street. As well as pictures of horses, including battle scenes, she painted other animals, flowers, and landscapes. — Photo of Kemp-Welch. — Cart Horses on the Downs (1917, 46x61cm) — Colt Hunting in the New Forest (1897, 154x306cm) _ This became her best-known picture after being purchased for the Chantrey Collection for 500 guineas. — Study of a Colt for Colt Hunting in the New Forest. — Forward the Guns! (1917, 152x306cm) |
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Born on 27 November 1853: Francis
Bernard “Frank” Dicksee, London Pre-Raphaelite
painter and illustrator who died on 17 October 1928. — [Did Dicksee see
sissy sea scenes that no one else has been since seen seizing so serene?] — He studied in the studio of his father, Thomas Francis Dicksee [1819-1895], who painted portraits and historical genre scenes; he then entered the Royal Academy Schools, London, where he was granted a studentship in 1871. He won a silver medal for drawing from the Antique in 1872 and a gold medal in 1875 for his painting Elijah confronting Ahab and Jezebel in Naboth's Vineyard (untraced), with which he made his début at the Royal Academy in 1876. He also began to work as an illustrator during the 1870s, contributing to Cassell's Magazine, Cornhill Magazine, The Graphic and other periodicals. During the 1880s he was commissioned by Cassell & Co. to illustrate their editions of Longfellow's Evangeline (1882), Shakespeare's Othello (1890) and Romeo and Juliet (1884). Dicksee's paintings are done with textural fluidity and rich orchestrations of color. They reveal a curious blend of influences, in particular the classicism of Frederic Leighton and the abstracted idealism of G. F. Watts. His predilection for the decorative aspects of painting grew out of his studies with Henry Holiday, a designer of stained glass. He passionately championed the Victorian ideals of High Art and publicly condemned the artistic trends that emerged towards the end of his life. His work covers a wide range of subject-matter and genres, including biblical and allegorical paintings; among those derived from literary sources is Chivalry (1885). He also painted society portraits and social dramas, such as The Confession (1896). Dicksee's sister Margaret Isabel Dicksee [1858-1903] and brother Herbert Thomas Dicksee [1862-1942] were also painters, as was his uncle John Robert Dicksee [1817-1905]. — LINKS –- Chivalry (1885; 510x381pix, 47kb _ .ZOOM to 1020x762pix, 137kb _ .ZOOM+ to 2039x1524pix, 299kb) –- The Mirror (1896, 95x118cm; 525x667pix, 79kb _ .ZOOM to 788x1000pix, 156kb _ .ZOOM+ to 1182x1500pix, 198kb) — Le Belle Dame Sans Merci (102kb) — Romeo and Juliet (88kb) — Yseult (ZOOMable) — An Offering (ZOOMable) — The End of the Quest (1921; 700x495pix) — Funeral of a Viking aka The Last Voyage; The Burial of the Viking (1893, 186x305cm; 257x420pix, 23kb) _ Dark and dramatic depiction of the funeral of a Viking, his body being set to sea on a burning pyre. Standing on the shore, to the right of the composition, are a crowd of Viking men and soldiers with arms and weapons raised as the burning ship carrying the body is pushed out. Most prominent of these figures is that of an armoured man standing forward of the crowd, wearing a crested helmet and a breast-plate with raised ornamentation, with his right arm raised and holding a flaming torch in his left. The boat, with a stern carved into the form of the head of a mythical beast, is hauled into the rough sea by muscular male figures; the recumbent body of the dead Viking, fully armoured, is surrounded by flames. In the background are austere, rocky mountains seen under a dark and stormy sky. Most of the scene is illuminated by the glow of the burning pyre and the torch of the foreground figure, which is reflected in the water and the glistening shore. Frame: designed by the artist: gilt, carved wood; decorated with classical motifs but also with a running chain pattern which is one of the features of the Viking Borre style of ornament, which flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries. — The Magic Crystal — The Confession (1896; 492x700pix, 105kb) — Passion aka Leila (1892, 56x70cm; 779x1000pix) — Elsa (57x43 cm) — Startled (1892, 98x67cm; 600x414pix, 78kb) — Sylvia _ detail — Harmony (1877, 158x94cm; 800x486pix, 84kb) _ Although Dicksee was of a younger generation, the conspicuously mediaeval setting and costumes in this picture reflect the influence on him of the Pre-Raphaelites. His design for this picture originated in a sketching exercise at the Langham Sketching Club. The theme chosen for illustration by members of the club had been 'Music'. Music had been traditionally associated with the divine, but in the late nineteenth century, aesthetes, such as the writer Walter Pater, focused on its abstract qualities. Immortal ideas are perhaps alluded to in the figure of the girl, who adopts the rapt expression of depictions of Saint Cecilia, patron-saint of music. When Harmony was exhibited for the first time it proved enormously popular. — While a student at the Royal Academy School in London Dicksee joined the Langham Sketching Club. From time to time the club met to sketch certain designated subjects; one evening the subject was 'Music'. Pleased with his sketch, Dicksee decided render it as an oil painting. In 1877, under the title Harmony, it became his first picture exhibited at a Royal Academy exhibition. The painting (hung in a place of honor opposite Yeoman of the Guard by John Millais) was a tremendous success, and provided quite a boost to the career of the young artist, who was only 24 years old. Harmony was selected for purchase as part of the prestigous Chantry Bequest, and as such became one of the first works acquired by the Tate Britain, where it now resides. — The Two Crowns (1900, 231x182cm; 84kb) _ The Two Crowns of the title are the golden crown of a king and the crown of thorns worn by Christ on the cross. Dicksee invented this highly moral scene in which a medieval king, riding in a triumphal procession, is startled by the sight of a crucifix (or perhaps sees a vision of Christ) and is reminded of the transience of earthly power and success. In fact the chivalric, Christian knight had been a role model for the modern gentleman for most of the nineteenth century. This painting was bought for the UK government from the Royal Academy in 1900 for £2000. — My Lady Fair (1903, 126x76cm; 512x312pix, 19kb) —(051126) |
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Born on 27 November 1886:
Tsuguharu (or Tsugouharu, Tsuguji) Leonard Fujita
(or Foujita), Japanese French painter
who died on 29 January 1968. A friend of Modigliani and of Soutine, Fujita
was one of the best-known figures in Montparnasse. He very quickly acquired
notoriety in fashionable circles, who enjoyed his nudes with their discreet
eroticism. He is still considered one of the great draughtsmen of his generation. — A friend of Modigliani and of Soutine, Fujita was one of the best-known figures in Montparnasse. He very quickly acquired notoriety in fashionable circles, who enjoyed his nudes with their discreet eroticism. He is still considered one of the great draftsmen of his generation. After graduating from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1910, he went to France in 1913. Though associated with the École de Paris he developed an individual style. He became an annual member of the Salon d’Automne in 1919 and a permanent member in the following year. Subsequently his reputation in Parisian artistic circles rose, established by such works as My Studio (1921) and Five Nudes (1923), where he used a thin, delicate line on a background of milk-white material, like the surface of porcelain; this style was particularly impressive in his cool, complaisant nudes. In 1929 he briefly returned to Japan, holding a successful one-man show in Tokyo. He left Paris in 1931 and traveled through South, Central and North America before returning to Japan in 1933. He was made a member of the Nikakai (Second Division Society) in the following year and painted several murals in Japan, including Annual Events of Akita, Festivals of Miyoshi Shrine of Mount Taihei, commissioned by Hirano Masakichi of Akita. He visited Paris in 1939 to 1940, painting Still-life with Cat and Cats (Fighting). In 1941 he left the Nikakai and was appointed to the Imperial Art Academy. He was also attached to the Navy and Army Ministries and used his excellent descriptive and compositional skills to depict war zones in China and South-East Asia. He was awarded the Asahi Culture Prize for The Last Day of Singapore (1942) and other works. He went to the US in 1949 and to Paris in the following year, taking French nationality in 1955 and becoming a Catholic convert, with the baptismal name of Léonard, in 1959. In 1966 he had the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix built in Reims, and he devoted his last years to its design and its stained glass and murals. — Born in Tokyo. Graduate of what is now Tokyo University in 1910. Lived primarily in France from 1913 to World War II, though he made frequent trips to Japan. Friend of the Paris school of painters between the wars. Returned to Japan during World War II, leaving in 1949 and settling in France in 1950. French citizen in 1955. Adopted name of Leonard at time of his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1966. Died in Zürich. Adapted Japnese brush techniques to his use of western oil paints, speciualizing in images of cats and women. Japanese-born painter who settled in France; died of cancer in Zurich. Foujita reached Paris in 1913 and hobnobed with the brilliant and the bizarre in the Montmartre of the 20s. He painted cats by the thousands and almost as many catlike women, achieving the first real fusion of Oriental brushwork and Western oils. — LINKS — Self-Portrait (1931, 100x65cm; 405x250pix, 16kb) — Autoportrait Huile sur toile 100 x 80,5 1921 , 380x304pix, 25kb) Inscription en japonais, signature et date dans le bas à droite : [Tsugouharu 35 ans] / T. Foujita / 1921 ; signature, date et titre au revers Artiste(s) Tsugouharu Foujita [Edogawa / Tokyo (Japon) 1886 - Zurich (Suisse) 1968] Classification [peinture (Dept. Art Moderne)] Type [tableau (toile)] Iconographie figure (homme : assis : de face) ; coiffure ; lunettes ; montre de poche ; pipe ; tabac ; assiette : céramique / portrait ; autoportrait (Foujita : artiste : peintre ; Japon) Interprétation Foujita avait un style vestimentaire et une coiffure bien à lui. Cet autoportrait permet de se faire une idée précise non seulement de ses petites lunettes caractéristiques, de sa moustache finement taillée en "M" mais également de sa coiffure, associée à son personnage dès son arrivée à Paris (1913). Cette coiffure à longue frange, que portait aussi Zadkine (1890-1967), plaisait beaucoup à Foujita, il l'a gardée toute sa vie. Pour cet artiste d'origine japonaise, cette coupe de cheveux avait pour particularité de n'exiger aucun cosmétique et de n'être l'imitation d'aucune coiffure occidentale. Deux pipes et une assiette de céramique sur un mur, de même qu'un pot à tabac, allumettes et un oignon sur une console à pieds droits, constituent un arrière-plan, témoignant d'un grand soucis du détail par l'artiste. — Jean Rostand (1955; 600x481pix _ ZOOM to 1400x1122pix, 438kb) complete painting with cluttered background featuring skeletons, the sitter holds a frog in each hand. –- Edmond Rostand (lithograph with yellow, 50x33cm; 1176x830pix, 114kb) with no background and unfinished at the bottom where there are six loose frogs, but it is the same sitter, in the same pose as the previous: they are both Jean Rostand [30 Oct 1894 – 04 Sep 1977] or both his father Edmond Rostand [01 Apr 1868 – 02 Dec 1918], but which? In 1955 Edmond had been dead 36 years, and a posthumous portrait seems very unlikely. But what clinches it, is that, while both were writers (of plays the father, of science and philosophy the son), only the son was a biologist who, especially at the time of the portrait, had a special interest in frogs: among his many works are: La Génétique des Batraciens (1951), Ce que nous apprennent les crapauds et les grenouilles (1953), Les Crapauds, les grenouilles et quelques problèmes biologiques (1955), Anomalies des Amphibiens anoures (1958). So it is this lithograph which is incorrectly labeled. –- Child in Hood in the Snow (1930 color woodcut, 37x29cm; 1068x814pix, 64kb) — Enfant Devant une Maison (1931, 27x35cm; 480x626pix, 34kb) — Les Deux Soeurs (1964, 42x30cm; 480x349pix, 63kb) — Untitled (20x24cm; 480x579pix, 35kb) 2 horses — Fillette à la Croix (1949, 33x23cm; 480x329pix, 17kb) —(061124) |
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Died on 27 November 1833: Philip Reinagle,
English painter born in 1749. — He entered the Royal Academy Schools, London, in 1769 before becoming a student of Allan Ramsay, whom he assisted on various portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte and for whom he later worked as deputy. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1773 and showed largely portrait works until 1785, when he diversified into animal painting, producing such works as the watercolor Dead Pheasants . From about 1805 onwards landscapes were his dominant subject. He contributed several plates to Robert John Thornton’s idiosyncratic {but not necessarily idiotic} Temple of Flora (1798–1807), including those for the Blue Passion Flower and the Night Blowing Cereus, and provided drawings for the illustrations to William Taplin’s Sportsman’s Cabinet (London, 1803). His copies of landscapes and cattle pictures by such Dutch artists as Paulus Potter, Meindert Hobbema, and Jacob van Ruisdael were often mistaken for originals. — Reinagle was the son of an Hungarian musician living in Edinburgh. He came to London in 1763 to be articled to the painter Allan Ramsay, served an apprenticeship of seven years and then stayed with him as his assistant until Ramsay's death in 1784. During this time Reinagle is reported to have made more than ninety copies for Ramsay of his coronation portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte. Thereafter Reinagle specialized in animal painting but also painted landscapes and portraits. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1773 to 1827, becoming an Associate in 1787 and a full member in 1812. Italian subjects exhibited in 1799, 1800 and 1806 and a Portuguese one in 1816 suggest visits abroad. Reinagle also exhibited at the British Institution from 1806 to 1829. He died in London. Reinagle married Jane Austin in 1771 and had eleven children. — The students of Philip Reinagle included his eldest son Ramsay Richard Reinagle [19 Mar 1775 – 17 Nov 1862] (named after Allan Ramsay), two of his daughters, who specialized in landscapes: Charlotte Reinagle (fl 1798–1808) and Fanny Reinagle (fl 1799–1820); and Henry Howard. — LINKS — Cupid Inspiring the Plants with Love (1797) — A First rate Man-of-War driven onto a reef of rocks, floundering in a gale (1826, 102x127cm) _ The Union flag stands out against the black clouds, indicating the heroism of this lone man-of-war as it braves the storm. Perched on the crest of a wave, it is unclear whether the ship will be engulfed by the sea or whether it will survive the tempest. Reinagle specialised in painting marine battles but this single ship in distress is probably symbolic. The ship might be read as the precarious British state - its survival dependent on a victorious navy. — Members of the Carrow Abbey Hunt (1780, 115x152cm) _ Reinagle was best-known for his landscape, sporting and animal subjects. This splendid conversation-piece demonstrates that he was also an accomplished portrait painter. |
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Died on 27 November 1878:
William Newenham Montague Orpen, Irish
painter who died on 29 September 1931. — He attended the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin (1891–1897), and the Slade School of Art, London (1897–1899), there winning the composition prize of 1899 with The Play Scene from Hamlet. One of his teachers was Frederick Brown. Orpen became a friend of Augustus John and joined the New English Art Club. From very early years he had been an impassioned student of the Old Masters, and he went to Paris with John in 1899 to see Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. In the following years his perception of their works—in particular those of Rembrandt, Goya, Velázquez, Chardin, Hogarth and Watteau—became sophisticated. Orpen learnt much from the Old Masters without losing the personal character of his own work. The influence of Velázquez, in particular, is apparent in such early genre subjects as The Mirror (1900). His bravura portrait style was probably also indebted to Manet: his Homage to Manet (1909) was a group portrait of members of the New English Art Club, including Philip Wilson Steer, Walter Richard Sickert, Dugald Sutherland MacColl and Henry Tonks, sitting beneath Manet’s portrait of Eva Gonzalès. Orpen was financially one of the most successful, and eventually one of the most honoured, portrait painters working in Britain in the 20th century. His vast and fashionable portrait practice destroyed his critical reputation, but a number of his portraits are outstanding, such as Ray Lancaster and Lloyd George, and the self-portrait, Orpsie Boy, You’re Not as Young as You Were, My Lad, Paris 1924 (1924). In 1917 Orpen was appointed an Official War Artist. An exhibition of his war paintings, watercolors and drawings was held in London in the spring of 1918. He offered all his works in the exhibition as well as all future war works as a gift to the nation, and the collection was accepted by the Imperial War Museum, London. In his illustrations to An Onlooker in France, 1917–1919 (1921), Orpen depicted scenes of trench warfare, often in grim detail, but he found it difficult in his larger paintings to come to terms with the broader implications of the war. In 1919 he was appointed official artist to the British Peace Delegation, and he produced the large and very traditional group portrait, The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919 . Orpen's production of paintings and drawings, in spite of the relative brevity of his life, is impressively large: he worked quickly and drew almost daily, usually for long hours. — Among Orpen's students were Margaret Clarke Dobell, William Dobell, John Keating, Henry Lamb. — LINKS — Self-portrait (1924, 79x65cm; 780x636pix, 75kb) — Self-Portrait (1912, 61x50cm; 380x307pix, 22kb) _ This unusual self-portrait by William Orpen, a modernist active in both Ireland and England, depicts the artist looking at himself in a mirror. Orpen portrays himself holding a rag, as if prepared to wipe out the image. Actual ferry tickets, "engaged seat" notices, a personal check, and a page from Orpen's diary (referring to a trip to Dublin in June 1912) are glued to the picture surface. These "intruders" from real life are cleverly arranged to create the illusion of objects pasted or stuck to the mirror. By incorporating real objects into a painting - a medium traditionally devoted to the creation of fictitious illusions, Orpen anticipated the collage experiments begun by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in 1912. — Homage to Manet — Master Spottiswoode (96x76cm; 1355x1000pix, kb) {age about 10?} — The Mirror (1900, 51x41cm) _ This painting was one of Orpen's first great successes after leaving the Slade School of Art. The sitter was Emily Scobel, a model from the school, to whom Orpen was briefly engaged. The room is apparently an accurate portrayal of Orpen's lodgings, but the shallow pictorial depth and 'aesthetic' arrangement of objects is based on Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871, 144x162cm) by Whistler, the famous portrait of his mother. In a dazzling display of his abilities, the concave mirror on the wall reflects Orpen painting at his easel. This is a device which Orpen borrowed from The Arnolfini Marriage (1434) of van Eyck, which he would have known in the National Gallery, and it is also found in tne work of Velasquez. — Anita (1905, 76x56cm) _ Anita Bartle, the sitter in this early portrait by Orpen, was a journalist and author in Dublin. At the time he painted it, Orpen had just returned from a visit to the Prado in Madrid, where he had studied portrait sketches by Rubens. His training at the Slade in the 1890s had been in drawing rather than painting. He wanted to try a modern version of Rubens's direct technique, and used this portrait of a friend as an exercise. Orpen uses only red, with black and white, and leaves visible the brushstrokes, in the manner of an oil sketch. He later gave the portrait to the sitter as a wedding present. — Lady Orpen (1907, 97x86cm) _ Orpen's portrait of his wife was painted while they were on a holiday at Margate with William and Mabel Nicholson and their children. They had been married only for a few years, and he portrayed her repeatedly. This portrait was studied by artificial light, and the stormy background added later, with its glimpse of sea and sand dune. The Orpens and Nicholsons loved to dress up. This conglomeration of gloves, scarf, veil, black ostrich feather and bonnet may not have been meant seriously, and Orpen often let loose his sense of humour in his private paintings. He was then just beginning his hardworking career as a society portrait painter, which was to lead to a great number of portraits of spectacular but prosaic realism. — Herbert Barnard John Everett (113x108cm) _ A full-length seated portrait, to left, of the marine and landscape painter John Everett [1877-1949], cross-legged and wearing a black overcoat and trousers, a silk hat and grey gloves. His face is bearded and a silver-topped cane rests against his left leg. Orpen produced a preliminary sketch of Everett for this portrait, which shows him as clean-shaven and seated with the gloves, cane and top-hat that feature in this finished canvas. Everett sat for his portrait against a background of his own watercolors and drawings of ships, and with the telescope and roll of maps that can be seen in the corner of the composition. Although the portrait is both direct and simple, it also emulates the swagger and insouciance of the sitter, who was nearly 2 meters tall. Everett was a student at the Slade School of Art with Orpen. They were distant relatives and in Everett's early days as an artist they shared a studio. It is likely that this portrait was painted there. Everett departed for his first sea voyage in 1898. Thereafter, he made a speciality of shipboard scenes and always signed his work 'John Everett' since he disliked the name Herbert. He undertook a series of world voyages which inspired his unusual seascapes of the 1920s and 1930s and he produced great quantities of drawings, oil paintings and engravings. During his lifetime he sold some of his landscape paintings but none of his marine work. Orpen exhibited the portrait (as of Herbert Everett) at the winter exhibition of the New English Art Club in 1900. Orpen was a fashionable portrait painter who painted in a vigorous style, often using strong chiaroscuro backgrounds, and this portrait shows the influence of both James Abbott McNeill Whistler [1834-1903] and John Singer Sargent [1856-1925]. Orpen later produced memorable work as a war artist. — The Model (1911, 54x69cm) — The Angler (1912, 91x86cm) — Zonnebeke (1918) — Sir William McCormick (1920, 127x102cm) — Dame Madge Kendal (1928, 102x87cm) — 35 images at Sotherby's (051126) |
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Died on 27 November 1945: Josep
Maria Sert i Badia, Barcelona Catalan painter born on 21
December 1874. — Sert i Badia, va desenvolupar, durant la primera meitat del segle XX, una obra pictòrica per la qual se'l va considerar el millor pintor muralista dels anys trenta. La dimensió internacional del pintor queda patent en el fet que les seves teles es troben tant a Europa com a Amèrica, des del Rockefeller Center de Nova York a l'edifici de la Societat de les Nacions de Ginebra. Vinculat al modernisme català, Sert va viure a Paris on va tenir contacte amb els corrents més avançats del moment. La relació amb Catalunya la va mantenir a través de les seves germanes i, sobretot, pel lligam que va establir amb la ciutat de Vic, on va decorar la Catedral per encàrrec del seu amic i protector Torras i Bages. Les diferents realitzacions d'aquesta obra van ocupar etapes decisives de la seva vida artística i, per això, no és gens agossarat dir que Sert es va fer com a pintor al voltant del projecte decoratiu de Vic. — Sert i Badía nació en Barcelona en el seno de una acomodada familia dedicada a la industria textil. Se formó en contacto con los círculos modernistas y simbolistas de la capital catalana. En 1899 se trasladó a París, ciudad en la que pasaría largos años decorando los salones de la aristocracia. Por mediación de su amigo Torras i Bages, obispo de Vic, en 1990 recibe el encargo de decorar las paredes de esa catedral. En 1922, sus obras llegan por primera vez a América donde decora un salón palaciego de Buenos Aires. En 1924 hace una gran exposición en Nueva York y comienza a trabajar para clientes norteamericanos. En 1926, a excepción de las bóvedas y los lunetos, la catedral de Vic quedó recubierta con sus pinturas. En 1929 recibe el encargo de la decoración del madrileño Palacio de Liria y a fines de ese mismo año, el Ayuntamiento donostiarra le encomienda las pinturas de la iglesia de San Telmo. En 1930 se le encarga una decoración para el neoyorkino Rockefeller Center. A fines del verano de 1932, J.M. Sert colocó en San Telmo los lienzos que cubren las paredes de la antigua iglesia. En 1936 pinta la Sala del Consejo de la Sociedad de Naciones de Ginebra. Durante la Guerra Civil Española fue incendiada la catedral de Vic destruyéndose los lienzos existentes. Al terminar la contienda en 1939, volvió a pintar la catedral. Murió en su ciudad natal y fue enterrado en la catedral de Vic, a cuya inacabada decoración dedicó 45 años de su vida artística. — En agosto de 1813, durante la Guerra de la Independencia y como consecuencia de la toma de la ciudad por las tropas anglo-portuguesas, la iglesia del convento de San Telmo fue devastada y saqueada. Desaparecieron todos sus elementos decorativos: pinturas, tallas, retablos..., quedando sus paredes prácticamente vacías. En 1929, al restaurar la iglesia y pensar cómo adecuarla al nuevo destino que iba a tener el convento, como Museo, se acordó, siguiendo el consejo del pintor Ignacio Zuloaga, que las paredes quedaran recubiertas de pinturas en las que se plasmas en las efemérides del pueblo. Esta labor se encomendó a José María Sert, que la realizó en 17 paños - 11 lienzos - sobre una extensión de 784 m2. Las once escenas de San Telmo, realizadas a base de veladuras, es decir barniz con color, sobre un fondo de panes de oro, representan temas de la vida y de la historia gipuzkoana: sus hombres, sus actividades tradicionales, sus hazañas y sus creencias. La descripción de los lienzos comienza a la derecha de la bóveda que sustenta el coro. — Pueblo de Ferrones (600x700cm; 500x721pix, 87kb) _ Un grupo de ferrones, delante de un inmenso yunque y en medio de un gran resplandor, forja un ancla monumental que evoca los tiempos en que la ferrería Gilisasti enviaba anclas para la armada inglesa. — Pueblo de Santos (600x700cm; 500x701pix, 80kb) _ Ignacio de Loiola escribe las Constituciones de la Compañía de Jesús al dictado de Cristo que, con una mano desclavada, le aconseja desde la Cruz. — Pueblo de Comerciantes (1000x300cm; 500x167pix, 28kb) _ Este estrecho y alargado lienzo está dedicado a la Real Compañía Gipuzcoana de Caracas, entidad que dió a la provincia un auge económico inusitado a lo largo del siglo XVIII. — Pueblo de Navegantes (1000x1000cm; 500x500pix, 73kb) _ Este lienzo representa la epopeya de Juan Sebastián Elkano, marino gipuzkoano de Getaria que navegó por vez primera alrededor del mundo. — Pueblo de Pescadores (500x524pix, 68kb) _ El escenario que nos ofrece esta pintura es el de un puerto gipuzcoano. Vemos un gran número de pescadores que intenta, trabajosamente, subir una ballena por una rampa. — El Altar de la Raza (1000x2000cm; 499x891pix, 134kb) _ Este lienzo ocupa el antiguo ábside de la iglesia. En medio de un mar embravecido un bloque pétreo se yergue sobre el oleaje a modo de atalaya. De él nace un viejo árbol que resiste la embestida temporal. Agarrado al árbol está San Telmo, patrón de los hombres de mar, quien, bastón en mano, salva una barca a punto de naufragar. Sobre él, y enganchado en las ramas del árbol, cuelga San Sebastián, patrono de la ciudad. — Pueblo de Fueros (1000x600cm; 500x480pix, 67kb) _ El tema de este lienzo evoca la pasada vida foral. Así, representa el momento en que Alfonso VIII, rey de Castilla, jura los fueros de Gipuzkoa. — Pueblo de Armadores (1000x1000cm; 500x500pix, 67kb) _ En este lienzo, Sert representa la actividad constructora de los astilleros pasaitarras mediante una larga hilera de navíos. Se trata de la construcción de la Armada “Invencible” (que no lo era). — Pueblo de Libertad (1000x300cm; 500x250pix, 39kb) _ Este estrecho y alargado lienzo está dedicado al árbol de Gernika, símbolo de las libertades de Vasconia. Al pie del viejo roble, un gran libro abierto simboliza el Fuero de Bizkaia. — Pueblo de Sabios (700x600cm; 500x620pix, 72kb) _ Los "Caballeritos de Azkoitia", constituidos ya en la Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País, y reunidos bajo la cúpula de su observatorio, reciben la visita de un sabio químico extranjero. — Pueblo de Leyendas (600x700cm; 500x650pix, 72kb) _ Sert nos presenta una escena que hace referencia al tema del akelarre. El origen de este tipo de ritos es remotísimo, constituyendo un signo inequívoco de las viejas creencias del Pueblo Vasco. _ Sert-ek akelarrea gogora ekartzen digun mihisea pintatu du. Hauek bezalako erritoen jatorria aspaldi-aspaldikoa da, eta Euskal Herriko aintzinako sinismenak argi eta garbi agertzen zaigu bertan. |
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