My French Easel

Our Lady's Basilica in Boulogne-sur-Mer

2013-06-10T09:46:00.000+01:00

Our Lady's Basilica in Boulogne-sur-Mer - Ink and watercolour sketch by Benoit Philippe

Boulogne-sur-Mer Basilica can be seen from far away. It is in the heart of the medieval part of the city, at the top of a hill.

The inside is in desperate need of some restoration work. They have already started with the inside of the dome.

Studies of cows by Eugene Boudin

2013-06-05T18:33:00.000+01:00

Eugene Boudin is well-known for his paintings of harbours and of people on the beach (at the time, fully dressed with ample dresses for ladies and hat and suits for men).

Boudin was born in Honfleur in a modest family and came to Le Havre aged 10. He worked with a framer and met artists like Millet this way. In 1851, the Municipal Council of the town granted him a 3-year bursary to further his art education in Paris. Until 1863, Boudin spent his time between Honfleur and Le Havre.

In 1900, Louis Boudin, the artist's brother, donated to Le Havre paintings from the artist's studio that he had inherited. These included numerous studies, in particular a series of studies of cows painted near the Saint-Simeon farm. Most of them are neither dated nor signed.

The studies have been hung in the museum densely, on a single wall - as if they were still in the artist's studio. This makes it more difficult to take good pictures of some of them.

The museum

Musée Malraux
2 boulevard Clemenceau
76600 LE HAVRE
Tel: 02 35 19 62 62
Malraux Museum in Le Havre

Related article and resources

Malraux Museum in Le Havre

Lucien Pissarro's engravings

2013-05-27T09:19:00.000+01:00

Camille Pissarro’s portrait by Lucien Pissarro - Woodcut Print [Source: Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Henry S. Bowers, M4963]

"The two engravings you sent me are excellent and in the right style. Don't bother your head about those who can't understand your type of drawing, let them put themselves in your shoes. Your drawing is actually quite correct, when you have studied and understood it—one step more and it will not be so! Only keep your personality intact! Each of us has his qualities and faults, the important thing is to have many qualities."

Camille Pissarro - Letters to his son Lucien

Related resources

Polka Dots 2

2013-05-13T20:21:00.000+01:00

After painting visitors in the Louvre-Lens museum, my earlier painting Polka Dot looked rough in comparison. This is because I used not much painting medium. I decided to rework it with paint mixed with refined linseed oil.

Polka Dot 2 - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

Follow the link to see the previous version, Polka Dot.

Pissarro on Mary Cassatt’s prints

2013-05-08T19:51:00.000+01:00

I had the chance to see some prints by Mary Cassatt in 2007, at the Impressionnism from France and America Exhibition.

These prints are delicate and very personnal in their subject and execution. Mary Cassatt was clearly impired by Japanese prints, but re-interpreted with day to day western life themes.

"Under the horse chestnut tree", 1 print: drypoint and aquatint, color by Mary Cassatt [Source: Wikimedia]

Camille Pissarro, who exhibited with Mary Cassatt and did some engravings himself, was interested in the technique the American artist used. In a letter dated April 3, 1891, he wrote to his son Lucien:

“It is absolutely necessary, while what I saw yesterday at Miss Cassatt's is still fresh in mind, to tell you about the colored engravings she is to show at Durand-Ruel's at the same time as I. (…)

You remember the effects you strove for at Eragny? Well, Miss Cassatt has realized just such effects, and admirably: the tone even, subtle, delicate, without stains on seams: adorable blues, fresh rose, etc. Then what must we have to succeed? . . . money, yes, just a little money. We had to have copper-plates, a boite a grain, this was a bit of a nuisance but it is absolutely necessary to have uniform and imperceptible grains and a good printer. But the result is admirable, as beautiful as Japanese work, and it's done with printer's ink!”

The Lamp – print by Mary Cassatt [Source: Wikimedia]

In another letter to Lucien dated April 25, 1891, he gives more details on Cassatt’s technique:

“Before leaving Paris I went to see Miss Cassatt. I watched her make color prints of her aquatints. Her method is the same as ours except that she does not use pure colors, she mixes her tones and thus is able to get along with only two plates. The drawback is that she cannot obtain pure and luminous tones, however her tones are attractive enough. We will have to make a more definitive trial of our own method to determine which is to be preferred.”

The Bath (1890-1891) by Mary Cassatt - drypoint and aquatint on laid paper - plate: 32.1 x 24.8 cm (12 5/8 x 9 3/4 in.) - sheet: 43.7 x 30.5 cm (17 3/16 x 12 in.) [Source: NGA]

Maternal Caress (1890-1891) by Mary Cassatt - Color drypoint and aquatint on cream laid paper; plate: 36.8 x 26.8 cm (14 1/2 x 10 9/16 in.); sheet: 43.5 x 30.3 cm (17 1/8 x 11 15/16 in.) [Source: NGA]

Related resources

To buy the book in the US (Affiliate link): Camille Pissarro: Letters to His Son, Lucien
To buy the book in the UK (Affiliate link): Camile Pissarro: Letters to His Son (Artworks)
Letters to his son Lucien (1943) by Camille Pissarro is also available for free online and in different ebook formats at Archive.org.

Book with Mary Cassatt’s prints

Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints (Affiliate link – Amazon US)
Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints (Affiliate link – Amazon UK)

Is that Diderot?

2013-05-06T20:11:00.000+01:00

This is the second painting in the Louvre-Lens series, after Louvre-Lens meditation. The painting this visitor is looking at is by Fragonard. The current title is "Figure of fantasy", but it used to be called "Diderot's portrait" (the French philosopher), which is now contested. You can see this painting in my post on the Paintings in the Louvre-Lens museum.

Is that Diderot? - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

Louvre-Lens meditation

2013-04-29T08:02:00.000+01:00

While I visited Louvre-Lens museum, I took some photographs of the other visitors admiring the works on display. I am going to make a series and this is the first painting.

Louvre-Lens meditation - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

Paintings in the Louvre-Lens museum

2013-04-25T19:15:00.002+01:00

In my previous post, I presented the Louvre-Lens museum and some of the works on display. In this second post, I will concentrate on the paintings.

Portrait of a woman (Oil on panel) by Giovanni Francesco Caroto

This portrait first entered the Louvre collection as a work by Carpaccio. It was later attributed to Costa, Solario and Boltraffio, until the artist’s signature was revealed by an X-ray scan of the painting.

Volterra (Tuscany, Italy) – the Citadel (Oil on canvas) by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Corot painted this work during his second stay in Italy, in 1834. There is a companion painting in the Louvre collection called Volterra, le municipe.

The Holy Trinity with God the Father supporting Christ (Oil on wood panel) by Colijn de Coter

This painting was in fact the central part of a triptych.

Antonio de Covarrubias y Leiva (1514-1602) – Jurist and Scholar by El Greco

The sitter was canon of Toledo Cathedral and a friend of El Greco.

Melancholy (Oil on canvas, circa 1618-16230 by Domenico Fetti

Mariana Waldstein, Ninth Marchioness of Santa Cruz (Oil on canvas, circa 1797-1800) by Goya

Mariana Waldstein (detail of the background)

The Punished Son (Oil on canvas) by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

The Punished Son is the pendant to another painting called The Father’s Curse, which also belongs to the collection of the Louvre. It is based on the Biblical story of the prodigal son.

Liberty Leading the People (28 July 1830) (Oil on canvas) by Eugène Delacroix

Magdalene with the Smoking Flame (Oil on canvas) by Georges de la Tour

It is interesting to compare this painting with other Georges de La Tour’s earlier works on the same subject that are in the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, the Washington National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Landscape with Paris and Oenone, also called The Ford (Oil on canvas) by Claude Lorrain

This painting was is the collection of Louis XIV (acquired from the duke of Richelieu in 1665)

Anton Fugger, banker and humanist by Hans Maler

Baldassare Castiglione, writer and diplomat – oil on canvas by Raphael

Francis George Hare as a child, known as Master Hare (Oil on canvas) by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno (Oil on canvas) by Rubens

Fanciful figure (Oil on canvas) by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Saint Sebastian (Oil on Wood board) by Perugino

The painting bears a sentence in Latin SAGITTAE. TUAE.INFIXAE. SUNT. MICHI coming from Psalm 37 (For thy arrows are fastened in me).

The Nest, also known as The Shepherd’s Gift (Oil on canvas) by François Boucher

Saint Matthew and the Angel (Oil on canvas) by Rembrandt

Practical information

Musée du Louvre-Lens
99 Rue Paul Bert, 62300 Lens, France
Website of Louvre-Lens museum: http://www.louvrelens.fr/

Access to the main gallery is free
Temporary exhibition: charge applies

Louvre-Lens museum

2013-04-17T19:43:00.000+01:00

I recently visited Louvre-Lens, a museum affiliated to the Louvre in Paris. It opened in December 2012 in Lens (North of France). Here are my impressions from this first visit.

A lot of work is still going outside on landscaping the site around the museum. Once the grass and planting will be done, the surrounding garden will complement the building.

The architect used organic forms for some of the paths, in contrast with the pure lines of the steal and glass building.

The building is modern and luminous inside. The semi-permanent collection is displayed in the Time Gallery (Galerie du Temps) which is a 120 metres long gallery, for a surface of 3,000 square metres, with a white ceiling and anodised aluminium walls. The whole gallery is luminous and spacious. A few free standing walls, where some of the works are hung, break the space without closing it too much.

Because the gallery is wide and the works are spaced out, I did not get the feeling that the place was overcrowded, even if a few hundred visitors were in the gallery at the time.

A timeline is inscribed on the right side wall of the gallery and the artworks are set-up in chronological order, from 3,500 BC to modern time, grouped in three main periods: antiquities (70 works), Middle-Age (90 works) and modern times (90 works). It is interesting to see works from the same period from Greece and Persia. At the Louvre in Paris, these objects would be in different sections.

Louvre-Lens does not own the exhibited collection, but rather displays some of the masterpieces picked from the collection of nearly 35,000 objects owned by the Louvre in Paris.

The plan, for the moment, is to have the semi-permanent exhibition in place for 5 years, with a partial renewal of 20% of the works every year. This is a good way to keep the exhibit fresh and keep visitors returning to the museum.

Another interesting feature of the museum: you can see the storage area on the ground floor.

Some works on display

Vase in the shape of a humpbacked bull – Lustrous red ware. Region of Marlik (currently in Iran), 1400 – 1100 BC

Woman wearing a woollen garment (kaunakes) – Green chlorite, limestone – Oxus civilisation, Central Asia (currently Afghanistan) – 2300-1700 BC.

Fragment of the decoration of the palace of Persian king Darius I: archer from the royal guard – Glazed siliceous bricks – Suse (actual Iran), around 500 BC

Fragment of mural: women beside a fawn. Fresco. Pompeii, Italy, around 30 – 50 AC

Marble column decorated with pamper from the ancient church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Daurade – Toulouse, France, around 500 AC.

Triptych: Scenes from the Life of the Virgin – Elephant ivory, traces of polychromy – Paris, France, around 1315-1335.

Panel of wall covering with a floral decoration from the mausoleum of the Ottoman sultan Selim II – Istanbul, Turkey, around 1577.

Panel of wall covering with a floral decoration (Detail)

Window screen (jali) with geometric design. India, around 1605-1627

In the next post, I will go through some of the paintings on display.

What I liked at the Louvre-Lens:

The building is spacious and well designed. I look forward to see it with the gardens completed.
I like the idea of getting some of the collections outside of Paris. The North region has already some strong art museums (like the Musée Matisse or the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille), but this creates a new cultural pole.
The limited selection of objects on display (relatively to the Louvre in Paris) is actually a good thing. I would just have missed some of the pieces on exhibit, in particular the older objects because they would be lost within hundreds of other objects. At Louvre-Lens, you can savour each work.
This museum makes a great family day out. It’s just the right size so that children won’t be bored to death by the end of it.
It's free (for the main gallery)

What I did not like that much:

Not much to complain about. However, as part of an exhibition on the subject of time, the museum was displaying two composite portraits by Acimboldo. Unfortunately, they were displayed in a glass cabinet and the glass was taking the reflected light from outside. I had to watch them from the side to avoid the glare and was not able to enjoy them.
The website is still partly under construction. I am sure it will get better over time.

Practical information

Musée du Louvre-Lens
99 Rue Paul Bert, 62300 Lens, France
Website of Louvre-Lens museum

Access to the main gallery is free
Temporary exhibition: charge applies

Dover to Calais sketches

2013-04-11T21:50:00.000+01:00

A few sketches done in ink and watercolour, while on our way to France.

Passenger bus

Reading

Concentrated

Works of the master by Whistler

2013-03-27T09:12:00.003Z

Whistler Self-portrait [Source: Wikimedia]

"The work of the master reeks not of the sweat of the brow - suggest no effort - and is finished from the beginning."

James McNeill Whistler

Propositions - No.2. 1884

Silhouette drawing

2013-03-18T21:49:00.000Z

I drew a series of 10 silhouettes. It's a good exercise that pushes you to explore various shapes and attitudes.

As there is no details other than the ones that stick out at the periphery, I had to think about accessories that would agive a clue about the character.

This exercise is used by concept artists to generate a large number of variations within a short time.

For my own attempt, I drew with a Faber-Castell PITT brush pen, which is pointy enough for details but has a long tip that makes blocking-in the shape easy.

I spent no more than three or four minutes for each charater.
Silhouette drawing is not only for cartoonesque characters. A first application in "serious" art is to paint figures in the light.

Claude Joseph Vernet - Seaport by Moonlight [Source: Wikimedia]

A silhouette well placed can bring drama or mistery to a painting. The more striking example I can think of is the silhouette that Velázquez placed in the door frame for his painting Las Meninas.

Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez [Source: Wikimedia ]

I you want to avoid boredom in your painting, then all figures should result in a different silhouette. Let me take the example of the painting Bonjour Monsieur Courbet, by the French painter Gustave Courbet, to illustrate the point.

Gustave Courbet - The Meeting or Bonjour Monsieur Courbet [Source: Wikimedia]

After I blackened each figure, the characters are all distinct. You could even guess, from the silhouette alone, the mood of each of these character. Courbet, on the right, holds his head high. With his long walking stick, he seems very stable and looks statuesque. The gentleman in the middle is welcoming with his arms open. As for the third gentleman on the left, he respectfully bow his head and looks humble.

Alte Pinakothek in Munich – Part 2

2013-02-21T18:57:00.000Z

This is the second article on my visit last year to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (see Alte Pinakothek in Munich – Part 1).

I will start with my favourite painting in the whole museum: a self-portrait by Rembrandt.

Rembrandt (Harmensz. van Rijn)

Self-Portrait (1629) by Rembrandt (Harmensz. van Rijn) (1606-1669) Oil on oak (15,6 x 12,7 cm)

Why is this portrait my favourite painting in the museum? I saw in books some reproductions of this work, but they don’t do justice to the original. This self-portrait of Rembrandt at the age of 23 is really small (15,6 cm x 12,7 cm). The size was a surprise. The painting technique as well as the way the artist depicted himself are remarkable. The half-profile looks relaxed, with the mouth half open and the dark eyes. The light is soft and the eyes hide in the shadow. The feeling is different to the many later self-portraits.

In term of technique, Rembrandt used glazing, impasto for the collar and sgrafitto for the curled hair. The treatment has the delicacy of soft pastel.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

I am not a big fan of Rubens’ monumental canvasses: too many figures, to much rounded figures, to much muscle. Everything is exagerated. Compositions are elaborate, but also very busy.

Lion Hunt (Ca. 1621) by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Oil sketch for the Lion Hunt by Peter Paul Rubens. Oak, 44 x 50 cm

I much prefer the oil sketch to the finished painting. Not only this sketch informs us on the artist's creative process, but it is more spontaneous that the huge canvas painted from it. And not everything is said: for me, the focus on a few elements makes this sketch more effective than the finished work.

Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt by Rubens

François Boucher (1703-1770)

François Boucher was French painter, draughtsman and engraver born in Paris in 1703. In 1765, he became the director of the Royal Academy in Paris, and "peintre du Roi" (the king’s official painter). He died in Paris in 1770.

Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour (1756) Canvas, 201 x 157 cm - On permanent loan from the HypoVereinsbank, Member of UniCredit.

Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (Marquise de Pompadour) became the mistress of Louis XV and reached an elevated position at court. On February 7, 1756 she became the queen's lady-in-waiting (dame du palais). This painting by Boucher was made for thie occasion.

Francisco de Zurbarán y Salazar (1598-1664)

Zurbarán was a Spanish painter, born in 1598 in Fuente de Cantos, Estremadura. He painted mainly religious subjects for monasteries in Seville and in Guadelupe. He also worked for the king Philip IV of Spain. He died in Madrid in 1664.

Saint Francis by Francisco Zurbaran

Bartolomé Estéban Murillo (1618-1682)

I remember the painting “Beggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melon” from my school’s Spanish lessons. A reproduction of this painting featured as an illustration to a poem.

Beggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melon (Ca. 1650) by Bartolomé Estéban Murillo (1618-1682) - Canvas, 145,9 x 103,6 cm - Probably acquired in 1698 by Duke Max Emanuel

What I did not realised is that Murillo painted a series of these scenes. Murillo's other Munich genre paintings were executed thirty years after "Beggar Boys Eating Grapes and Melon".

Beggar Boys Playing Dice (Ca. 1675) by Bartolomé Estéban Murillo (1618-1682) - Canvas, 146 x 108,5 cm - Acquired in 1698 by Duke Max Emanuel

Children eating a pie by Bartolomé Estéban Murillo (1618-1682)

Velázquez

Young Spanish Gentleman by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez - Canvas, 89,2 x 69,5 cm. Acquired in 1694 for the Düsseldorf Gallery

Young Spanish Gentleman by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (detail)

It's not clear to me whether the artist couldnot finish the painting or decided not to detail the hand so that the viewer would concentrate on the face.

Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) (1600-1682)

Claude Gellée, known as Claude Lorrain, was a French landscape painter and engraver, born in 1600 in Chamagne in Lorraine (hence his artist name “Lorrain”).

A seaport at sunrise by Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) (1600-1682)

Ferdinand Bol

Portrait of a gentleman by Ferdinand Bol

When I first saw this painting, I thought it was a Rembrandt… but I was wrong

The museum

Alte Pinakothek
Barer Straße 27
Eingang Theresienstraße
80333 München
Germany

Web site

Alte Pinakothek in Munich – Part 1

2013-02-18T18:20:00.000Z

There are three Pinakothek museums in Munich, covering different art periods. The “Alte Pinakothek” covers the earlier period.

Sandro Botticelli

Lamentation of Christ (Ca. 1490) by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). Tempera on Wood panel, 140 x 207 cm

Sandro Botticelli was a painter from Florence. He studied with Fra Filippo Lippi. His most famous painting is the Birth of Venus, but this is a more somber theme and treatment. Lamentation of Christ was commissioned for the Pauline monastery in Florence.

Leonardo da Vinci

Virgin and Child (Ca. 1473) by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – Oil on wood (62 x 47,5 cm)

Leonardo da Vinci, another great name from Florence, was young when he created this painting. Leonardo worked as pupil in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio.

Albrecht Dürer

Self-Portrait with Fur-Trimmed Robe (1500) by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) Oil on limewood, (67,1 x 48,9 cm)

Dürer painted this self-portrait when he was 28 years old. This is the first portrait known done this way: a full frontal view with no objects around the subject. He looks like a representation of Christ. The Latin inscription on the painting reads: "Thus I, Albrecht Dürer from Nuremberg, portrayed myself with characteristic colors in my 28th year."

Hans Holbein

St. Sebastian Altar; Central panel: Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (1516) by Hans Holbein d. Ä. (1465-1524)

Acquired in 1809 from the Jesuit church of St. Saviour in Augsburg, in the process of secularization.

Albrecht Altdorfer
Albrecht Altdorfer (1482-1538) was a German painter, engraver, designer of woodcuts and architect. Born around 1482, probably in Regensburg (Ratisbon).

Susanna and the Elders (1526) by Albrecht Altdorfer (1482-1538). Oil on Limewood, 74,8 x 61,2 cm

This is an amazingly detailed painting with many intricate details. It depicts of a biblical story from Daniel 13. The different scenes of the story are on the same canvas. A sketch of the work exists in Düsseldorf.

Raphael
Raphael was born in 1483 in Urbino. After training with his father Giovanni Santi, he became an assistant to Perugino in Perugia. In Florence, he studied in the workshop of Fra Bartolommeo, Leonardo and Michelang

The Canigiani Holy Family (Ca. 1505/06) by Raphael (1483-1520) - Oil on Poplar, (131 x 107 cm)

The Canigiani Holy Family (details)

Raphael used a pyramidal composition for the figures of the Holy family. The triangle figure works both as a visual unifier and as the symbol of the Holy Trinity. The relationship between the figures is interesting and creates some mouvement in a static composition. The groups of angels, which were over-painted in the late 18th century, have been restored in 1983. They participate to the balance of the entire composition.

Fra Bartolommeo

Adoration of the Child by Fra Bartolommeo

Rogier Van Der Weyden

Saint Luke drawing the Virgin by Rogier Van Der Weyden

The museum

Alte Pinakothek
Barer Straße 27
Eingang Theresienstraße
80333 München
Germany

Alte Pinakothek's Web site

Related articles

Neue Pinakothek in Munich

Quick sketches for linocut projects

2013-02-11T20:57:00.000Z

At the week-end, I did a few quick sketches that could be carved as linocut.

I used a graphite pencil to do a rough outline and then my Pentel Color Brushes (Steel blue and Sepia).

On the owl, I experimented with leaving some lines out in the border. The frame is suggested by the negative shapes and it opens up the design.

For more on Linocut technique, see my article Working out tones with linocut and the links referenced at the end of this post.

Victor Hugo’s Drawings

2013-02-08T09:26:00.000Z

When visiting Victor Hugo’s house in Paris, I was hoping to see again some of Hugo's drawings I saw in the past. But there were only two examples on display (and not the best ones) depicting pieces of furniture. Drawings are fragiles and are only shown during special exhibitions.

During his life, Victor Hugo produced more than 4000 drawings. He worked on paper (often on vellum paper) with pen, ink washes (black and brown) and occasionally some colours.

In his dark brown or black drawings, he sometimes created highlights with white gouache. He experimented with different techniques: using stencils, blotting the paper, printing with laces, scratching the surface… He was able to instil mystery and drama into his works.

He had a clear fascination for architecture and liked inventing castles and other buildings. He deployed in his drawing the same avid imagination that feed his literary works.

Some more abstract drawing may have come from Spiritualist séances (that he hosted in his home).

Below are some of Victor Hugo’s drawings from Wikimedia. Enjoy!

I kept my favourite for last:

Related resources

You can see more drawings by Victor Hugo at the following sites:

Artworks in Victor Hugo’s house

2013-02-05T20:34:00.000Z

With the success of 'Les Misérables' in cinemas, it is a good time to talk about Victor Hugo.

At the end of last year, I visited the Maison de Victor Hugo located Place des Vosges in Paris. Hugo lived in this house for 16 years, between 1832 and 1848. He wrote most of 'Les Misérables' in this house, which is now is a museum.

In this post, I will show you some of the art exhibited throughout the house. In a next post, I will cover Hugo’s drawings. Hugo was not only a prolific writer (poet, novelist, and dramatist) but also a prolific drawer.

Maisons de la Place royale (now Place des Vosges) – Ink on paper by Gustave Fraipont

The most dramatic room in the house is the Oriental room. Such decoration was fashionable at the time.

There are several portraits of Victor Hugo in the house. The best one is by Léon Bonnat. Because of the reflection from the Window, I had to take the picture from the side.

The original of this painting was done in 1877 by Léon Bonnat and exhibited at the Salon of 1879 (major French official art exhibition at the time). The painting in the museum is a copy executed, with the consent of the artist, by one of his former student named Daniel Saubès. This is probably the most well known image of Victor Hugo.

Engraving of Hugo sitting for his portrait

There is a beautiful portrait of Léopoldine, Hugo’s daughter who drowned at the age of 19 in 1843. Hugo wrote many poems about Léopoldine’s death.

Léopoldine au livre d’heures – Oil on canvas by Auguste de Châtillon

There is also a portrait of Victor Hugo’s wife, Adèle Foucher, when she was young.

Adèle Foucher (around 1820) – Oil on canvas by Julie Duvidal de Monferrier (1797-1865)

Julie Duvidal de Monferrier was the student of the painter baron Gérard. She exhibited her work at the Salon from 1819 to 1827. In 1822, Pierre Foucher, Adele’s father, obtained for her a studio in the Hotel de Toulouse. She used this studio until 1827, when she married Victor Hugo’s elder brother and when she gave drawing lessons to Adèle
.

A caricature of Victor Hugo by Bajamin Roubaud

Panel by Henry Cros (in Hugo House’s staircase)

Related resources

Maison de Victor Hugo (Paris)
Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée
6, place des Vosges
75004 Paris

The permanent collections are free for everyone.
The temporary exhibitions are free for children under14yrs.

More information and opening time.

Polka dots

2013-01-14T07:28:00.000Z

Polka dots - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

This a painting done from a reference photograph I took at the Cardiff art gallery. I love the fact that you can take photos in certain museums in England. This is not possible in France. I have a few more photos from this visit.

Tangerines

2013-01-08T07:54:00.003Z

Tangerines - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

Edward Hopper exhibition in Paris

2013-01-02T09:49:00.000Z

We were lucky to get in as we did not book in advance and this is THE exhibition to see in Paris at the moment. We had to queue for 45 minutes, but it was worth the wait.

Before writing about this exhibition, I would like to stress the great attitude and friendliness of the museum staff. As we were with children, they told us that we could wait inside in the warm lobby rather than outside in the cold. Such friendly service is not customary in France and they deserve all the credit they can get.

This exhibition, curated by Didier Ottinger (assistant director of the MNAM – Centre Pompidou), presents a large selection of Hopper’s oil paintings, but also some watercolours, etchings and a sample of his illustration work.

Girl at Sewing Machine by Edward Hopper (Source: Wikimedia)

The first part of the exhibition explores the early years (1900-1924) and also showcases works by contemporaries who influenced Hopper when he stayed in Paris. The second part covers his mature years, with works we are more familiar with, like the House by the Railroad painted in 1924.

My impressions from the exhibition

Hopper went into illustration not by choice, but to earn some money. His illustrations show that he was good at drawing and could do detailed figures without any problem. The more abstract depiction of figures in his later work is therefore an artistic choice, not the result of technical shortcomings.

Smash The Hun - Dry Dock Dial cover (Source: Wikimedia)

The series of etchings are very interesting. They form a bridge between the illustration work and the artistic side of his practice. You can see already some of the urban themes that will appear again in his oil paintings from the mature period. The black and white media is also well suited for depicting dramatic lights and shadows.

House tops – etching 6 x 8 in., 1921 (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

- (Source: Wikimedia)

The watercolours are really good and I am not surprised that they helped him to get his first gallery show. The ones done on thin paper were better than the ones done on heavy watercolour paper. I think it is because the colours sunk in the paper more quickly, leaving brighter and bolder marks that were more connected to Hopper’s style. The drawback of using a thinner paper was that it buckled.

How to define Hopper’s style?

Subjects: most paintings have in them a house or an urban element. There are exceptions, but he had a predilection for well lit houses, in particular the wooden houses in the New England style. Scenes are taken from ordinary life and describe the banal intimacy of the life of ordinary people.

People are often there, on the side of the canvas; one, two or three, rarely more. There is a quietness and sometimes a sadness about Hopper’s paintings.

Soir Bleu by Edward Hopper (Source: Wikimedia)

Windows play a key role in Hopper’s paintings, as a source of light, but also as a frame. People are observed through windows, in the intimacy of their homes or at the bar, like in the famous painting Nighthawks. A window is a frame within the frame.

Nighthawks – oil on canvas by Edward Hopper (Source: Wikimedia)

Technique: Very few oil paintings have any visible texture or brush marks. The two exceptions were two seascape paintings: Cove at Ogunquit (1914) and Sea at Ongunquit (1914).

The light: In Hopper’s work, the light is so important that it becomes a subject of the painting. He is a master at depicting light at the end of the day, dramatic shadows and striking contrasts.

Hotel Lobby by Edward Hopper (Source: Wikimedia)

Compositions: All of Hopper’s works are carefully staged, with elaborate composition, despite the simplicity of the subjects. Lights and shadows form and integral part of the composition and bring an abstract feel to the background in paintings that are otherwise figurative.

Chop Suey (Source: Wikimedia)

Exhibition details

Edward Hopper

Grand Palais, Galeries nationales
10 October 2012 – 28 January 2013

Site for the exhibition

Related resources

Fire-up your imagination (the video)

2012-12-28T13:05:00.000Z

If you do not see the embedded video, you can watch it on YouTube.
Last July, I published a post Creative exercise: Inspired by nature’s marks and I wanted to make a short video of the process, but did not get around to do it… until now.

The Champs-Élysées

2012-12-24T10:54:00.000Z

The Champs-Élysées is probably the most famous avenue in Paris (France). At the top, you can admire the Arc de Triomphe. In the opposite direction, you can see the Place de la Concorde with the Obelisk of Luxor and the big fairground wheel in the background.

The Arc de Triomphe from the top of the Champs-Élysées

The Arc de Triomphe from the other side (Avenue de la Grande Armée)

Christmas illuminations on the Champs-Élysées avenue

Illuminated fountains - Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées

The avenue is also home to upscale shops, cars manufacturer showrooms, famous restaurants (the Fouquet’s) and luxury brands.

Christmas decorations on the Cartier shop

At Christmas, the avenue is illuminated and very crowded. They also organise a lovely Christmas market in the lower part of the avenue.

The Champs-Élysées in paintings

I was surprised that I could not find that many paintings of the Champs-Elysees. Here are two:

La Modiste Sur Les Champs Elysees by Jean Béraud [Source : Wikimedia]

The Champs Elysees During The Paris Fair Of 1867 [Source: Wikigallery]

I wish everyone a happy Christmas and end-of-year celebrations.

Public art in Swindon

2012-12-20T08:47:00.000Z

The Central Library in Swindon recently posted on Flickr a collection of photographs of past and present public art in Swindon.

Unfortunately, many of Ken White’s murals have now disappeared, but Ken is still making great art inspired by his time in the Swindon railway factory, where he was handpainting signs.

Below are pictures of some of the sculptures dotted around town.

Bronze sculpture of a ram in Swindon Old Town

Queen's Park, Swindon

'Gorilla' by Tom Gleeson, Queens Park, Swindon.

Diana Dors (who was born in Swindon)- Shaw Ridge Leisure Park, Swindon

Making a Christmas gift and madeleines recipe

2012-12-17T08:16:00.000Z

Creativity is about doing and making. It does stop when you leave your studio. So why not infuse some creativity into your Christmas presents?

It’s not just about saving money, but more about spending the time to create something unique that you won’t find in high street shops. And time is a currency in short supply these days, so you are making a real present to whoever receives it.

The little black box

I wanted my gift to look good and professional. I had a tall square black cardboard box that gave me a good start. I cut the sides to 6 cm high.

I kept the extra bits of carboard and folded them to make two dividers inside the box.

I composed the image I glued on the top of the box with Adobe Photoshop Elements 11. The photo of the notebook cover is one of an actual notebook Proust wrote in.

For the side of the box, I created a label with all the ingredients.

To increase the “professional” effect, I cut some transluscent baking paper that looks just like the crystal paper you find in luxury biscuit tins. I rounded the corner for a smoother look. Et voila!

Madeleine recipe

I found this excellent recipe on the French blog: « Aux Portes du Paradis » blog. It is a recipe from the French chef Gaston Lenôtre.

Below is an English translation of the recipe, in case your French is a little bit rusty.

Ingredients for around 20 madeleines:

3 eggs
130 g of sugar
20 g of honey
150 g of flour
125 g of butter
1 pinch of salt
5 g of baking powder
Zest from 1/2 lemon or orange – or vanilla

Preparation

1 - Soften the butter in the microwave. Beat the eggs with the sugar, the pinch of salt and honey until the mixture is pale and has doubled in volume.

2 - Add to the mixture the flour mixed with the baking powder. Finish by adding the softened butter and the lemon zest (or orange zest or vanilla). Put the dough in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight (best).

Note: It is the thermal shock (temperature difference) that will allow you to get a nice bump on top of the madeleine, so you absolutely need to let the dough rest in the refrigerator.

3 - Preheat your oven at 230 ° C. Grease and flour the mould for madeleines (even if the silicone one). Fill the cavities of the mould for madeleines with a tablespoon of dough, without spreading it.

A metal mould for small madeleines and a silicon mould for normal size ones

4 - Put in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 200 ° C.

After 3 to 5 minutes, the centre of the madeleine forms a small depression: further turn down the oven thermostat to about 180 ° C and leave the madeleines to cook. Instead of depression, the famous "bump" will form on top of the madeleines.

When the madeleines are golden (4-5 more minutes), remove from the oven and immediately unmold onto a rack to let them cool.

18 madeleines in the box

Related resources

Book with Gaston Lenôtre's desserts recipes on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (affiliate lins)

Painting childhoood memories – Proust’s madeleines

2012-12-13T08:24:00.001Z

Do you remember how, as children, a teacher would ask us to draw a scene from our last holidays? But then, we grew-up and we stopped drawing our memories. Why?

Smell and taste are fairly untapped senses compared to sight, touch or hearing. Yet, creativity can feed on all senses.

Creative exercise

Find an object with a particular smell (perfume, bottle of ink, dish, fabric, etc.) and paint what the smell evokes for you.

Proust’s madeleines

The French writer Marcel Proust is well-known in France for its evocation of a particular childhood memory in his novel “Swann’s Way”:

“And suddenly the memory returns. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before church-time), when I went to say good day to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of real or of lime-flower tea. […]

But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, still, alone, more fragile, but with more vitality, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls, ready to remind us, waiting and hoping for their moment, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unfaltering, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.”

Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way (Translated from the French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff) - New York Henry Holt and Company 1922 - Project Gutenberg EBook-No.7178

In my next post, I will give you the recipe to bake some madeleines… This way you will be able to enrich your own sensory memories

Related resources

The Proust Questionnaire