Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre
Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre
(1824-98).
The foremost French mural painter of the second half of the 19th
century.
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Study of Four Figures for Repose
1863 (30 Kb); Sanguine, pencil, and white gouache on cream paper;
MusИe d'Orsay, Paris
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The Balloon
1870 (20 Kb); MusИe d'Orsay, Paris
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Young Girls at the Seaside
1879 (30 Kb); MusИe d'Orsay, Paris
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The Poor Fisherman
1881 (130 Kb); Oil on canvas, 155 x 192.5 cm (5' 1" x 6' 3 3/4");
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
He decorated many public buildings in France (for example,
the PanthИon, the Sorbonne, and the HТtel de Ville, all in Paris)
and also Boston Public Library.
His paintings were done on canvas and then affixed to the walls
(marouflage), but their pale colors imitated the effect of fresco.
He had only modest success early in his career (when a private income
enabled him to work for little payment), but he went on to achieve
an enormous reputation, and he was universally respected even by
artists of very different aims and outlook from his own.
Gauguin,
Seurat, and
Toulouse-Lautrec
were among his professed admirers.
His reputation has since declined, his idealized depictions of antiquity
or allegorical representations of abstract themes now often seeming
rather anaemic. He remains important, however, because of his influence
on younger artists.
His simplified forms, respect for the flatness of the picture surface,
rhythmic line, and use of non-naturalistic color to evoke the mood of
the painting appealed to both the Post-Impressionists and the
Symbolists.
© 26 May 1996,
Nicolas Pioch -
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Study of Four Figures for Repose
The Balloon
Young Girls at the Seaside
The Poor Fisherman