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International Art Treasures Web Magazine June 2006 |
Rebels and MartyrsThe Image of the Artist in the Nineteenth Century
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In the words of Vincent van Gogh, "The more I am spent, ill, a broken pitcher; by so much more am I an artist - a creative artist." |
The suffering misunderstood artist could and perhaps should be a macro for an art publication such as International Art Treasures Web Magazine. How often have we described a difficult life of anguish for the most creative artists: Van Gogh and Gauguin. They are at the tip of the iceberg.
London's National Gallery has organized an exhibit dedicated to the life of those who suffered for their work and produced some of the most fascinating pieces of art in the world. The exhibit explores the development of the 'myth of the artist'. It begins with Romanticism and continues through the early 20th Century and into the avant-garde. It questions how artists both responded to and exploited these Romantic notions of the artist. Was it a deliberate attempt to set themselves up as outsiders and thus on the cutting edge of what is and was new in the creative world?
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The studio of Abel du Pujol was a learning center for fellow French artists Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps and Emile Levy. His father was a nobleman, Alexandre de Pujol de Mortry, but the artist choose not to use his father's name to aid his career, at least not in his early days. |
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Abel du Pujol studied at the Parisian Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and later in the studio of Jacques-Louis David. Unfortunately lack of funds all but ended his time in David's studio but so taken was the master with his student's progression he allowed du Pujol to continue without a fee.
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Tassaert's family included several generations of artists. He was an apprentice to Alexis-François Girard. It is known that he was deeply disappointed never to have won the Prix de Rome nor the Legion of Honor. |
Many of his later works illustrated family angst such as The Waif or One Family's Unfortune with Suicide.
Though some of Octave Tassaert's works were well received his disillusionment was complete with his decision not to exhibit in the Salon after 1857. Within a few years he gave up painting altogether and eventually became an alcoholic. In 1874 he committed suicide.
Title: Ovid among the Scythians, 1859
Artist: Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix (French 1798 - 1863)
Permanent Collection: The National Gallery, London
Inv. NG6262
© The National Gallery, London
Image Courtesy: The National Gallery, London
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was the son of a former French Minister of Foreign Relations. He was considered one of the leaders in the Romantic period and was heavily influenced by Rubens.
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Renoir was considered to be one of the founders of Impressionism, though among those artists his work is believed to be the most traditional. He counted Claude Monet among his closest friends. He would become dissatisfied with Impressionism and its restrictions on his style and move beyond it. Perhaps this more than any other reason places Renoir in this field of artists who are rebels even of their own creations. |
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Polish born Jacek Malczewski was a Symbolist. His country's struggle for freedom was a recurring them in his artwork. |
Rebels and Martyrs are terms often associated with some of the greatest artists the world has ever known.
Rebels and Martyrs
National Gallery, London:
June 28 - August 28, 2006