| ART “4”
“2”-DAY 06 September |
| DEATHS:
1876 SZERMENTOWSKI — 1503 VIVARINI
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Born on 06 September 1868: Joseph van
Sluijters “Georges de Feure”, Dutch painter who
died on 26 November 1943. — The Dutch painter Georges Joseph Van Sluyters was known in France under the pseudonym Georges de Feure. Drawn at first to the art of advertising posters, de Feure painted Symbolist compositions of Baudelairian inspiration on the theme of woman, and showed them at the Rose+Croix Salons. Around 1900 he turned to the decorative arts. His contributions to Bing's Art Nouveau pavilion at the Universal Exposition of 1900 were much admired. Gifted with a highly inventive mind, he was as skillful at designing airplanes as theatre sets and costumes. — LINKS — La Botaniste (91x72cm) — Swan Lake (1897; watercolor) Surrounded by flowers and birds, a woman on a boat gazes at her reflection in the water, unable to tear herself away from it. The figure of the peacock, a symbol of vanity, lends meaning to a composition remarkable for its fluid lines and transparent hues. — The Voice of Evil (1895; 65x59cm) — La Loïe Fuller dans sa création nouvelle Salomé - tous les soirs à 10 heures à la Comédie Parisienne, rue Boudreau (rue Auber - près l'Opéra) (poster; 128kb) |
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Died on 06 September 1876: Józef Szermentowski,
Polish painter born on 16 February 1833. — [Did he give up inventing
the ski tow when told: “Sir, men tow ski.”?] — In 1849–1852 he lived at the Kielce house of the art collector and patron Tomasz Zielinski [1802–1858]. In Kielce he studied painting for one year under visiting Warsaw artist Franciszek Kostrzewski [1826–1911]. Szermentowski first copied the 17th-century Dutch paintings in Zielinski’s gallery; subsequently Zielinski arranged for him to study in Warsaw, where he trained (1853–7) at the School of Fine Arts under Chrystian Breslauer [1802–1882] and, in 1858, in the studio of Wojciech Gerson. Szermentowski made friends with members of the Cyganerii (Bohemia) group of Polish artists, who specialized in genre scenes and landscapes and were dedicated to close observation of both popular life and nature. The group included Gerson, Kostrzewski, Henryk Pillati [1832–1894] and Juliusz Kossak [1824–1899]. Szermentowski accompanied them on their walking and sketching tours in the region of Ojców and the Swietokrzyskie hills, and to Kielce, Kraków and Sandomierz. Szermentowski’s early work developed in two directions: he followed the Romantic tradition of picturesque landscape painting, but he also produced more unconventional, direct studies of nature. Initially he favored ‘historic’ landscapes, mostly from the region of Kielce. He produced meticulous views of monuments and townscapes and precise renderings of architecture and the countryside, for example View of Sandomierz (1855). He also painted sentimental rural genre scenes, and sometimes portraits and animal studies. He gradually came to pay more attention to direct studies of landscape, with and without accessories, concentrating on the quality of light. He painted in both oil and watercolor. — Wychowywal siê na Kielecczyznie i na pejza¿u tych okolic ksztalcil swa wyobrazniê. Poczatków nauki rysunku i malarstwa udzielal mu w Kielcach Franciszek Kostrzewski. Miêdzy 1853-57 uczyl siê w warszawskiej Szkole Sztuk Piêknych pod kierunkiem Ch. Breslauera, w 1858 uczêszczal do pracowni Wojciecha Gersona. W 1860 udal siê do Paryza, skad parokrotnie przyjezdzal do Polski. We wczesnym okresie malowal pejzaze z widokami architektury i zabytkowych miast, pózniej dominowal krajobraz wiejski. Jako pierwszy wyzwolil pejzaz z zastarzalych konwencji, oparl jego realizacjê na bezposrednim studium natury i wprowadzil wazne czynniki — swiatlo i powietrze. — Odpoczynek oracza (1861, 71x100cm; 576x800pix, 102kb) — Pogrzeb chlopski (1862, 79,5x106 cm; 592x800pix, 92kb) — Read the online book Chlopi by Wladislaw Stanislaw Reymont [07 May 1867 – 05 Dec 1925] — Studium wioski polskiej (1868, 46x55cm; 663x800pix, 112kb) — Jezioro w lesie (1868, 33x39cm; 669x800pix, 112kb) — Pieniny (1868, 668x800pix, 106kb) — Stary zolnierz i dziecko w parku (Pasowanie na rycerza przez dziadunia) (1868, 653x800pix, 118kb) — Pejzaz z krowami (1869, 60x100cm; 481x800pix, 56kb) — Droga do wsi (1872, 578x800pix, 102kb) — W parku (1873, 55x46cm; 622x800 134kb) — Krajobraz nadrzeczny (1873, 53x72cm; 579x800pix, 73kb) — Gwiazda zaranna (1874, 48x70cm; 592x800pix, 64kb) — Bydlo na pastwisku (Bydlo odchodzace do wodopoju) (1876, 81x140cm; 438x800pix, 99kb) — Ratusz w Sandomierzu (432x600x432pix, 44kb) |
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Born on 06 September 1855: Julius
Leblanc Stewart, US artist who died on 05 January 1919.
— Julius L. Stewart's education, career, and reputation were all formed in Europe. Son of the wealthy expatriate art collector William Stewart, this artist had entrée into the salons of rich people from the US living abroad and their European friends. He studied in Paris under Jean León Gérôme. Both artists specialized in large, multi-figured compositions, painted realistically. Stewart often included well-known people from Parisian society in his paintings. In this stratum of social privilege Stewart found virtually all his subjects. His popularity and success continued from 1878, when he first exhibited in the Paris Salon, to the end of the century. The Baptism, last of Stewarts elaborate group subjects, received acclaim at the Berlin International Exposition. In the late 1890s Stewart painted outdoor scenes of Venice, and later, depictions of religious subjects. By the end of the decade his career began to decline, and he received little further public or critical attention. Initially, Stewart painted single figures but soon became known for his elaborate narrative pictures. — Photo of Stewart — LINKS — View of Crosby Hall at no.36 Bishopsgate — Room With A View (1895, 70x50cm) — The Ball (40x60cm) — The Baptism (1892, 201x298cm) This last of Stewart's elaborate group subjects received acclaim at the Berlin International Exposition. In the late 1890s Stewart painted outdoor scenes of Venice, and later, depictions of religious subjects. By the end of the decade his career began to decline, and he received little further public or critical attention. Initially, Stewart painted single figures but soon became known for his elaborate narrative pictures. The painstaking detail of the figures assembled in The Baptism suggests particularity. The men's faces are strongly individual, although the women's are less so. The scene was probably inspired by a specific baptism, but the identity of the family is unknown. The Baptism, with its illusionism, elaborate composition, implied narrative, and slow ceremonial pace, is a tour de force of technical skill and a prime example of late nineteenth-century aesthetics. The richly covered damask walls, the silk, satin, and lace trim of the elaborate attire, and the soft, delicately rendered skin of the women and children are as astonishing as their identity is cryptic. — The Nymphs (143x115cm; 512x416pix, 77kb) — Spring Flowers aka In the Conservatory (1890; 282x366pix, 72kb) |
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Died on 06 September 1503 (or 14 November 1505?):
Alvise Luigi Vivarini, born in 1445 or 1446,
ultimo componente la famiglia muranese di vetrai e pittori che tanta parte
ebbe nell'adozione a Venezia del linguaggio padovano e segnatamente mantegnesco:
— Vivarini, family of Venetian painters of the mid- and late 15th century. Their work represents a transition from the traditional stylized Gothic- and Byzantine-inspired school to the more realistic Renaissance-influenced manner of the 1500s. The brothers Antonio Vivarini [1417-1480] and Bartolomeo Vivarini [1432?->1500] collaborated on religious polyptychs with linear, often stiff figures and vertical architectural backgrounds, all enclosed in ornate gilded frames. Alvise Vivarini, son of Antonio, painted somewhat more rounded, solid human figures, and became a specialist in the crystalline, luminous style that dominated Venetian painting about 1500. — Alvise Vivarini emerged as an independent artist in 1476 when he was enrolled in the Scuola della Carità, Venice, and signed a polyptych for the Franciscans of Montefiorentino in the Marches. In 1488, conscious of the family prestige, he petitioned to work alongside the Bellini in the Sala del Gran Consiglio of the Doge’s Palace. He was allotted three canvases, but at his death two were incomplete and one only begun. These historical scenes were destroyed in 1577. Alvise is referred to as the ‘unhappy Vivarini’, as he became ill in his last years, and died poor and in debt. — Giovanni d'Alemagna was a maternal uncle of Alvise Vivarini. — Marco Basaiti was an assistant of Alvise Vivarini. — The students of Alvise Vivarini included Jacopo de’ Barbari, Cima da Conegliano, Pietro degli Ingannati, Bartolomeo Montagna. — LINKS — Altarpiece of Saint Ambrose (1503, 500x250cm) _ This great panel is the altar of the Chapel of the Milanese. Vivarini had not time to finish it before his death and the work was concluded by Marco Basaiti. The altarpiece presents the triumph of Saint Ambrose, patron saint of Milan, carrying a scourge in his right hand and a staff in his left. The shields at his back support the sword and the cross. On his right stand Saint John the Baptist, Saint Sebastian and Saint Louis IX, and on his left Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome. Behind the two groups of saints are two anonymous heads that may be the priors of the brotherhood. At the foot of the throne two angels are playing the lute and the mandola. These are by Basaiti, as is Saint Sebastian. — Christ Carrying the Cross — Mary and Child — Mary with the Child — Mary and Child with Saints Mary Magdalene and Catherine (1504, 89x129cm) — Sacra Conversazione, Holy Family (1480, 175x196cm; 620x847pix, 137kb) _ The heavy plasticity of Bartolomeo Vivarini and Andrea da Murano was soon surpassed by the more balanced and harmonious three-dimensional quality of the works of Antonello da Messina. His Saint Cassiano altar-piece of 1476, fragments of which are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna was studied and admired by a whole generation of painters. One of the first to be inspired by it was Alvise Vivarini, son of Antonio and follower of his uncle Bartolomeo, who soon went on to become a major exponent of Antonello's theories of crystalline form and color. His major work coming from the first and much-admired studio of Messina is the Sacra Conversazione dated 1480, originally in the church of Saint Francis in Treviso. The painting is composed with geometrical symmetry: the two groups of saints, Louis of Toulouse, Anthony of Padua and Anne on the left and Bernardino and Francesco Gioacchino on the right, face inwards towards the enthroned Virgin. In their gestures immobilized by the cold light which comes from the top left-hand corner, the three-dimensional figures appear to form a kind of architecture the centre of which is the throne, a construction of cylinders and parallelepipeds, behind which the curtain falls heavily excluding from sight all natural elements apart from two small fragments of a cold, clouded sky. Shadows appear to cut into the floor, confirmation of the geometrical relationship between space and figures, while the clear line delineates areas of pure enamel-like color. This theory of formal abstraction was to become during the last few years of the l5th century still more monumental, in contrast to the ideas of colorization and sublime naturalness represented by Giovanni Bellini. — Sant'Antonio, opera notevole per delicatezza e limpidezza di colore. |
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Born on 06 September 1836: John
Atkinson Grimshaw, British painter who died on 31 October
1893. — Known as the painter of moonlight, Grimshaw established his career on the basis of careful detailing of nature, looking at still life and woodland scenes. He was briefly in the orbit of the Pre-Raphaelite movement painting landscapes in a minute and carefully detailed style. Twilight Later he turned to his trademark twilight or night scenes set in suburban lanes, dockside venues, the river bank of the Thames or London city streets and those of the northern towns. In mid career he chose to imitate the figure paintings and style of Laurence Alma-Tadema and James Tissot with his settings of ancient Rome or the domestic interiors of the modern home. He also turned to myths and legends to indulge his love of poetry and the romantic stories of Camelot. In his last years Grimshaw painted sparsely detailed beach scenes and river estuaries, ending his life with a series of poignant snow scenes. — Grimshaw was born in Leeds in 1836. His father was a policeman but in 1848 he found work with the Great Northern Railway Company. Grimshaw's parents were strict Baptists and his mother strongly disapproved of his interest in painting and on one occasion she destroyed all his paints. In 1852 Grimshaw became a clerk at the Great Northern Railway office in Leeds. The city had several art galleries and Grimshaw was able to see the work of Holman Hunt (The Light of the World), Henry Wallis (Death of Chatterton) and William Powell Frith (Derby Day). Grimshaw decided to become a full-time painter and in 1861 he left his job with the Great Northern Railway. Grimshaw's paintings were sold in two art galleries, smaller picture dealers and a couple of bookshops in Leeds. One of his main customers was Thomas Fenteman, who owned an antiquarian booksellers. Fenteman was a deeply religious man and would only buy the pictures after Grimshaw had confirmed that they had not been painted on a Sunday. Grimshaw became a popular artist in Leeds and in 1865 he was able to move with his wife to a more expensive part of the city. William Agnew, a London art dealer, began purchasing his work. Further success came when a picture by Grimshaw was accepted by the Royal Academy. By 1870 Grimshaw was in a position to buy Knostrop Old Hall, a large seventeenth-century manor house, three kilometers from Leeds. “Fanny” Frances Theodosia Hubbarde Grimshaw gave birth to fifteen children but only six reached adulthood, including Arthur Edmund Grimshaw [about 1865 - Jul 1913], Louis Grimshaw [about 1870–], Wilfred Atkinson Grimshaw [about 1871 – 15 Dec 1937]. Two of those who died at a young age were Lillian Josephine Theodosia Grimshaw [about 1866 – 18 Oct 1868], Gertrude Grimshaw [about 1868 – 06 Oct 1874]. Some of the other children were Hubert James Grimshaw [about 1873–], Clara Mary Grimshaw [27 Oct 1874–], Elaine C. Grimshaw [1877–], Lancelot G. Grimshaw [1877–], Enid Grimshaw. Until the early 1870s Grimshaw's paintings were predominantly still lifes with a few landscapes of the Leeds area. However, he gradually became interested in painting night scenes. This included Liverpool from Wapping (1875), Nightfall down the Thames (1880), Shipping on the Clyde (1881), Park Row, Leeds (1882), The Thames by Moonlight (1884), Liverpool Quay by Moonlight (1887) and Prince's Dock, Hull (1887). These paintings often included the smoke pollution and damp fogs that were common in industrial cities in the late 19th century. — Grimshaw was a Leeds painter of landscapes, town views and dockyards, especially at sunset or by moonlight. Born the son of an ex-policeman, Grimshaw first began painting while working as a clerk for the Great Northern Railway. He encountered bitter opposition from his parents, but after his marriage in 1858 to Theodosia Hobbarde, a cousin of T.S. Cooper, he was able to devote himself to painting. By 1870, he was successful enough to rent Knostrop Old Hall, a 17th century mansion near Temple Newsam, which features in many of his pictures. Later in the 70s, he built a house near Scarborough, and in the 80s rented a studio in Chelsea. Grimshaw painted mostly for private patrons, and exhibited only 5 works at the Royal Academy between 1874 and 1886, and one at the Grosvenor Gallery. The towns and docks that he painted most frequently were Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds's, Scarborough, Whitby and London. Grimshaw's style and subject matter changed little during his career; he strove constantly to perfect his own very individual vision. He was interested in photography, and sometimes used a camera obscure to project outlines on to canvas, enabling him to repeat compositions several times. He also mixed sand and other ingredients with his paint to get the effects he wanted. Although he established no school, Grimshaw's pictures were forged and imitated in his lifetime, notably by Wilfred Jenkins and H. Meegan. Although his moonlit town views are his most popular works, he also painted landscapes, portraits, interiors, fairy pictures and neo-classical subjects. During his early period he signed "J.A. Grimshaw" but about .1867 dropped the John, and signed himself Atkinson Grimshaw. He usually signed his pictures on the front and the reverse, inscribed with the title. Two of his sons, Arthur and Louis, were also painters — Atkinson Grimshaw was born in Leeds, his father was a policeman, and he started work as a railway clerk. His parents were opposed to his taking up art as a career. Grimshaw was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, and in his youth produced vivid, highly finished landscapes. Gradually, Grimshaw developed his own highly distinctive style, and subject matter. He became a consummate painter of twilight, night time, and autumnal scenes. Grimshaw spent holidays at Scarborough, and many of his pictures were set there, and in Whitby. He also painted nocturnal harbour and dockside pictures. He spent some time in London. Grimshaw was, though, a Northerner, and Leeds remained his base, and his commercial success allowed him to buy Knostrop Hall on the outskirts of the city. For a short time in the mid 1880s, he did have a London Studio.It is rumoured that he was a friend of Whistler. Grimshaw’s output was much more varied than just this however. He painted portraits, interiors, fairy pictures, and most accomplished fancy pictures, of attractive gorgeously dressed young women in opulent interiors. In the early 1890s Grimshaw’s style seemed to be developing in new directions, three pictures showing this are Sand, Sea, Summer, and Fantasy of 1892, and At Anchor 1893. He seemed to be moving towards a freer, less formal style of painting, perhaps influenced to a degree by Whistler. Unhappily this change of direction was not to, be as Grimshaw died of cancer in 1893. — Photo of Grimshaw — LINKS — Glasgow Docks (46x30.5cm; 1808x2821pix, 2140kb) — The Lovers (1920x2393pix, 1844kb) _ they are, in a landscape in dim moonlight, a dark featureless silhouette which takes up no more than one-third of 1% of the area of the picture. — London Bridge - Half Tide (1884, 56x91cm) — Stapleton Park near Pontefract (1882, 51x76cm) — Day Dreams — Knostrop Hall, Early Morning (1870, 61x92cm) — Greenock (1893, 30x45cm) — Roundhaylake, From Castle (1893, 46x68cm) — The Thames Below London Bridge (1884, 52x76cm) — Lane In Cheshire (1883, 51x51cm) — Snowbound (1883, 76x51cm) — The Turn of the Road (1883, 30x45cm) — Whitby from Scotch Head (1879, 29x43cm) — November Afternoon, Stapleton Park (1877, 28x44cm) — Wharfedale (1872, 61x91cm) — Evening, Knostrop Old Hall (1870, 26.7x43cm) — Autumn Morning (51x76cm) — Gourock, Near The Clyde Shipping Docks (61x93cm) — Greenock Dock (29x44cm) — Liverpool Customs House (17.8x38cm) — Midsummer Night (1876, 58x89cm) — Spirit of the Night (1879) — View of Heath Street by Night (1882, 368x537cm) — Bowder Stone, Borrowdale (400x536cm) — Liverpool Quay by Moonlight (1887, 610x914cm) — Autumn — Elaine — The Lady of Shalott — Hampstead (1881, 34x44cm) — October Gold (1889, 59x45cm) — Endymion on Mount Latmus (1879; 32x47cm) "In Greek mythology Endymion was a beautiful youth who spent much of his life in perpetual sleep. Endymion's parentage varies among the different ancient references and stories, but several traditions say that he was originally the king of Elis. According to one tradition, Zeus offered him anything that he might desire, and Endymion chose an everlasting sleep in which he might remain youthful forever. According to another version of the myth, Endymion's eternal sleep was a punishment inflicted by Zeus because he had ventured to fall in love with Zeus's wife, Hera. In any case, Endymion was loved by Selene, the goddess of the moon, who visited him every night while he lay asleep in a cave on Mount Latmus in Caria; she bore him 50 daughters. A common form of the myth represents Endymion as having been put to sleep by Selene herself so that she might enjoy his beauty — Iris (1886; 81x122cm) This was the last of Grimshaw's works to be exhibited at the Royal Academy. In the 1870s and 1880s he made a series of paintings of nude or lightly draped symbolic or supernatural figures silhouetted in a brilliant nimbus of light and hoering against a backdrop of a romantic and atmospheric wooded landscape. Iris, the messenger of the gods, was sent to wither flowers in autumn, but she stopped to admire the water lilies, and as a punishment was turned into a rainbow. Grimshaw's eerily lit figures reflect the interest in spiritualism and supernatural manifestations in the latter half of the 19th century. |
