The Dance by Matisse at the Barnes Foundation

by 20th century ArtArtFrench ArtMuseumsPowerpoints
Henri Matisse, French Artist, 1869 – 1954
The Dance (view of the Main Room, South Wall), Summer 1932 – April 1933, Oil on canvas; three panels, Overall (left): 339.7 x 441.3 cm, Overall (center): 355.9 x 503.2 cm, Overall (right): 338.8 x 439.4 cm, the Barnes, Philadelphia, PA, USA https://collection.barnesfoundation.org/objects/6967/The-Dance/ensemble

My new BLOG POST titled The Dance by Matisse at the Barnes Foundation starts by quoting Professor Yve-Alain Bois, how Matisse himself describes, on two separate accounts, the moment at which he began work on the Barnes Dance composition and the immensity of the surface he had to master or as he phrased it ‘to possess’…. In the first version, it is an architectural rhyme that triggers the onset of this sense of possession: ‘ As I was pacing in front of my seventy-two square meters of white canvas destined to become the decoration of Doctor Barnes, not knowing which way to start, I noticed by chance a rope hanging from a window to a random spot in my studio, standing out and projecting a curve on my canvas. I suddenly had before me the relationship of this curve to the great rectangle of the edges of my decoration.

Unidentified Photographer
Henri Matisse using a bamboo stick to sketch The Dance in his studio in Nice, 1931, Photograph Collection, Barnes Foundation Archives, Philadelphia
https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2016/bois-matisse-barnes

The second documented account, once more quoting Professor Yve-Alain Bois, of what kicked off Matisse’s sense of taking possession, of the immensity of the space he had to cover, is perhaps more surprising than the first… ‘Faced with my huge white canvases, Matisse wrote, I took a model and began a study that had nothing to do with the decoration. At each of the model’s breaks, I relaxed by looking at these great surfaces, absentmindedly—or so I thought. Then, at a certain point, there came a flash of inspiration. I took my big charcoal, attached it to the end of a big bamboo, and began drawing the circle of my dancers, from one end to the other of my thirteen-meter surface. I’d got off the mark, taken possession of my surface entirely through the power of my imagination. That’s how I made my painting: entirely from feeling, without a model.’

It was the 27th of September, 1930, when Matisse, while touring the United States by train, made a detour to the Barnes Foundation because it housed a significant number of his artworks. He was a man in trouble… I have made several attempts to paint, he wrote to his daughter, Marguerite, in 1929, but when faced with the canvas, I find myself devoid of inspiration… The once-upon-a-time enfant terrible experienced a disheartening period of creative stagnation.

The artist was 60 years old, and lived in Nice, for the past thirteen years. Employing vibrant patterns and radiant colors illuminated by the Mediterranean light, he found himself falling into a repetitive style, capturing captivating female models within the confines of his studio. By 1927, certain critics questioned whether this once-radical artist had lost his innovative spark. They were wondering whether the aging painter of the odalisques was the man André Breton described as ‘a discouraging and discouraged old lion’.

Back in Philadelphia, in September of 1930, visiting the Barnes Foundation, and talking with its founder and owner, Dr. Albert Barnes, Matisse’s creativity ‘issue’ was put to test… According to Cynthia Carolan, a docent at the Barnes Foundation, Dr. Barnes approached the aging painter, engaged him in a gentle critique of his Nice paintings, and acknowledged their sensuous and captivating nature, but suggested they lacked the weightiness of his earlier works. Then, the collector extended an invitation to Matisse, offering him a commission to create a painting that would suit the lunettes, the grand arches above the windows, on the southeast wall of his newly established gallery.

It was a challenge Matisse could not refuse. It would be the only commissioned artwork within the Barnes collection, created specifically for an architectural area of the building. It was a ‘grand’ project as he was expected to create a ‘mural’ in a space that spanned a width of approximately 13.7 meters. It would consist of three distinct canvases, with borders that would converge. Barnes gave Matisse free rein in the choice of subject matter; the agreement simply specified the size of the mural and its place on the southeast wall of the Main Gallery. For Matisse, who had never created anything this large, it was a new beginning!

Henri Matisse, French Artist, 1869 – 1954
The Dance, Summer 1932 – April 1933, Oil on canvas; three panels, Overall (left): 339.7 x 441.3 cm, Overall (center): 355.9 x 503.2 cm, Overall (right): 338.8 x 439.4 cm, the Barnes, Philadelphia, PA, USA https://collection.barnesfoundation.org/objects/6967/The-Dance/

Matisse soon chose the subject of The Dance to embellish the three arches that extended above the French windows. The motif represented an expression of vitality and rejuvenation, a theme that had preoccupied him since he was inspired by the sight of the Catalan fishermen dancing the sardaña on the beach at Collioure in the summer of 1905. He rented the space of an old garage, big enough to work on the outsized canvases, turned to his 1909 and 1910 paintings of Dance 1 and Dance II for inspiration… and started facing the challenges!

Henri Matisse, French Artist, 1869 – 1954
Study for Barnes Mural, Ocher Harmony, 1930–31, oil on canvas, 22×88 cm, Musée Matisse Nice, France
https://philamuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/matisse-1930s

‘Possessing’ the magnitude of the space he had to cover was his biggest challenge. Designing his dancers with correct proportions for the architectural space they would ‘inhabit’ was another one. Using large zones of flat colors that resist the typical illusion of depth and invite the Foundation’s viewers to gentle contemplation was yet, another.

Matisse experimented for a whole year… By using a long bamboo pole attached to a pencil as an elongated drawing device to sketch the dancers’ shapes, Matisse invented a new drawing tool. By cutting large pieces of pre-coloured paper and pinning them up, he solved the problem he faced of setting the piece’s correct proportions. For the first time, Matisse used scissors as an art tool, ushering in the age of his renowned cut-outs. He also began using a camera to document his process so he could compare changes from day to day.

The Dance in Philadelphia, at the Barnes Foundation, marked a return to a modernist style, ultimately creating a dynamic composition depicting bodies that seem to jump across abstracted spaces of pink and blue fields. Matisse struggled and changed the course of action many times, but in the end, ever so innovative, reached his goal and reclaimed his position as a leading figure in the tradition of decorative mural painting… to do it publicly and on a grand scale.

For a PowerPoint on the theme of Matisse and Dance, please… Check HERE!

Bibliography: https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2016/bois-matisse-barnes and https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230118-matisses-the-dance-the-masterpiece-that-changed-history and https://collection.barnesfoundation.org/objects/6967/The-Dance/

The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux Queen of France

by 14th century ArtArtFrench ArtInternational Gothic ArtStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Jean Pucelle, French, active Paris, 1319–34
The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France, Folios 9v-10r, Calendar Pages for September, ca. 1324-28, Grisaille, tempera, and ink on vellum, Single folio: 9.2 x 6.2 cm, the MET, NY, USA Jean Pucelle | The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France | French | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)

The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France, is a famous medieval illuminated manuscript created around the year 1324-1328. Currently housed in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, on display at the Cloisters, the manuscript is considered one of the most exquisite examples of Late Gothic manuscript illumination. It was probably commissioned for Jeanne d’Evreux, by her husband, King Charles IV of France, between the date of their marriage in 1325 and his death three years later.

At first glance, this tiny prayer book, the size of each vellum folio is 9.2 x 6.2 cm, with not a trace of gold, might seem an unlikely possession for a queen of France. The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, however, offers much more than meets the eye. This manuscript consists of 209 folios, containing not only twenty-five full-page paintings featuring depictions of significant moments from the Infancy and Passion of Christ, but also scenes portraying the life of Saint Louis, a notable ancestor of Queen Jeanne. Additionally, the margins of the manuscript are adorned with an astonishing array of nearly 700 illustrations. These illustrations vividly portray a diverse tapestry of medieval Parisian society, including bishops, beggars, street dancers, maidens, and musicians. Furthermore, interspersed among these depictions are whimsical creatures from the realm of pure fantasy, such as apes, rabbits, dogs, and other enigmatic beings. The combination of meticulously crafted religious imagery and glimpses into the vibrant urban life of medieval Paris makes The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux an extraordinary testament to the artistic and cultural milieu of the time. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/470309

Diminutive in size, the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux was made between 1324 and 1328 https://www.facsimilefinder.com/facsimiles/hours-jeanne-evreux-facsimile
Jean Pucelle, French, active Paris, 1319–34
The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France, Folios 15v-16r, The Betrayal of Christ and The Annunciation to Mary, 1324-28, Grisaille, tempera, and ink on vellum, Single folio: 9.2 x 6.2 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:4_Jean_Pucelle._Hours_of_Jeanne_d%27Evreux._1325-28,_Metropolitan_Museum,_New-York.jpg

While there is no positive proof establishing the identity of the artist behind the Cloisters manuscript, three extraordinary documents, Jeanne d’Evreux’s will, King Charles V’s inventory of treasures, and the successive 1401 and 1406 inventories of the collection of Jean, Duc de Berry, led scholars to accept Jean Pucelle as the artistic genius behind the manuscript’s illuminations.

Jean Pucelle was a fine Parisian manuscript illuminator of impeccable taste and refined elegance. He was a great innovator, introducing the art of Giotto and Ducio to Northern Europe. He had the ability to present sculpturally modeled figures, capture psychological expressions, and convey human emotions. Finally, Pucelle was the artist who presented ideas such as the use of naturalistic settings and narrative continuity within his miniatures.

His name became synonymous with exceptional craftsmanship and artistic excellence, but much of his life remains shrouded in mystery. However, his surviving works serve as a testament to his profound impact on the art of illumination during the medieval period, earning him a well-deserved place among the great masters of the era.

The illuminated manuscript of Jeanne d’Evreux in the Cloisters is a Book of Hours, that is, a devotional and instructional book that was popular in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was primarily used by laypeople, particularly wealthy individuals, for personal prayer and devotion. It was essentially a private prayer book, containing a collection of prayers, psalms, hymns, and other religious texts, often accompanied by illustrations. It was called a “Book of Hours” because it typically included a series of prayers that were meant to be recited at specific times throughout the day, corresponding to the canonical hours of the liturgical day.

The book usually began with a calendar, which listed important feast days and saints’ days. It would then include various sections, such as the Hours of the Virgin Mary, the Office of the Dead, and other prayers dedicated to specific saints or events. Each section would contain specific prayers, psalms, and readings associated with the particular devotion.

The decoration for the Calendar page in Books of Hours can vary depending on the specific manuscript and the artistic style of the time. For The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Pucelle employed scenes depicting the agricultural activities commonly carried out each month of the year, such as plowing, sowing seeds, or tending to crops, along with scenes of the countryside, fields, or farms. For the Month of September, the artist chose to depict the labor of harvesting or tending to the vineyards. Pucelle’s page shows workers engaged in grape harvesting and winemaking activities, such as picking grapes, stomping on them, and hungrily tasting the fruits of their labour.

Jean Pucelle, French, active Paris, 1319–34
The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France, Folios 9v-10r (detail), Calendar Pages for September, ca. 1324-28, Grisaille, tempera, and ink on vellum, Single folio: 9.2 x 6.2 cm, the MET, NY, USA Jean Pucelle | The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France | French | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)

What I like most is how the illuminations created for the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux employ a diverse range of artistic techniques. One of them is the grisaille technique, described as de blanc et noir in French, which involves using shades of gray created through hatching and cross-hatching. Grisaille, however, is not enough for Jean Pucelle. He wants to introduce vibrant colours, so along with grisaille, he adds tempera paints as well. The combination of these two techniques, known as “camaïeu gris,” results in a harmonious interplay of grayscale and color. The application of grisaille and the skillful use of tempera bring forth a visually captivating effect, enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal of the manuscript.

Overall, the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux is not only a masterpiece of medieval art, characterized by its elegant figures, attention to detail, and a fusion of naturalistic and stylized elements. It is a valuable historical artifact as well, providing insight into the artistic, cultural, and religious practices of the French royal court during the 14th century.

Its delicate illuminations and meticulous craftsmanship make it a treasured example of medieval book art, and it continues to inspire and captivate viewers to this day.

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Les Meules à Giverny simply means The Stacks at Giverny

by 19th century ArtArtFrench ArtImpressionismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Claude Monet, French Artist, 1840-1926
Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890/91, Oil on canvas, 60 × 100.5 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago, USA https://www.artic.edu/artworks/64818/stacks-of-wheat-end-of-summer

My new BLOG POST title,  Les Meules à Giverny simply means The Stacks at Giverny,  refers to twenty-five paintings that Claude Monet began near the end of the summer, the month of August, of 1890, and continued through the following spring… Information about Les Meules à Giverny comes from Monet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago | Cats. 27–33  Stacks of Wheat, 1890/91 (artic.edu) Cats. 27–33  Stacks of Wheat, 1890/91, and Monet’s Haystacks Reconsidered by Richard R. Brettell, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Autumn, 1984), pp. 4-21 (19 pages) https://www.jstor.org/stable/4115885?read-now=1#page_scan_tab_contents, and https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2019/impressionist-modern-art-evening-n10067/lot.8.html

Claude Monet painted his famous series Les Meules, or Stacks of Wheat, also commonly referred to as Haystacks series, in his house at Giverny in France, where he saw large stacks of wheat in his neighbor’s farm, a field adjacent to his property. The decade starting in 1890 was a happy one for the artist. He turned fifty, he was established as an artist and was considered to be the leader of the Impressionist movement. He bought the house in Giverny, a beautiful place he had rented since 1883, a life-long source of inspiration, and a property and gardens he loved. It was also in 1890 that he began work on his famous Meules series.

I’m working away at a series of different effects (of stacks), but at this time of year, the sun sets so quickly that I can’t keep up with it… Monet explained to his friend Gustave Geffroy, journalist, art critic, historian, and novelist, on October 7, 1890. I’m becoming so slow in my work that it makes me despair, but the further I go, the better I see that it takes a great deal of work to succeed in rendering what I want to render: ‘instantaneity,’ above all the enveloppe, the same light diffused over everything, and I’m more than ever disgusted at things that come easily, at the first attempt… he continued.

Claude Monet first exhibited his series of paintings titled Les Meules, in Paris on the 4th of May, 1891. The exhibition, along with seven more paintings by the artist, took place at the Galerie Durand-Ruel, a prominent art gallery in the city. Fifteen paintings of the ‘Haystacks’  series were placed together and hung in the same small Gallery room. The exhibition of Monet’s ‘Haystacks’ series was met with a positive critical response, and it achieved significant financial success.

Let me present you with two 1891 critical reviews of Les Meules à Giverny simply means The Stacks at Giverny.

The famed art critic, gallery director, art collector, and anarchist, Felix Fénéon, the man who introduced the term Neo-Impressionist, wrote about Monet in rhapsodic prose… When did Monet’s colors ever come together in more harmonious clamor, with more sparkling impetus? It was the evening sun that most exalted Grainstacks: in summer they were haloed in purple flakes of ire; in winter, their phosphorescent shadows rippled in the sun, and, a sudden frost enameling them blue, they glittered on a sky first pink, then gold (F. Fénéon quoted in D. Wildenstein, Monet or the Triumph of Impressionism, Cologne, 1996, pp. 279-80).

Les Meules à Giverny by Claude Monet made the critic Gustave Geffroy wonder if Monet, a dear friend of his, saw the poetry of the universe in the restricted space of a field… I love it!

Today, experts on Claude Monet’s achievements, and particularly the famous Meules, examine the series as a whole and draw favorable conclusions about the artist’s ability in capturing the transient nature of light, the ever-changing atmosphere, and the passage of time, and Monet’s mastery in depicting the subtle variations of color and light. The general consensus is that Monet skillfully depicted the interplay between sunlight and shadows, creating a luminous quality in the ‘Heystacks’paintings. His use of broken color and loose brushwork allows the viewer’s eye to blend the colors optically, resulting in a vibrant and harmonious visual experience.

I particularly like how Paul Hays Tucker describes Monet’s organization… The compositions are all strongly geometric—the fields, hills, and sky being reduced to parallel bands that in most cases extend across the entire canvas, with the fields occupying approximately half the surface, and the hills and sky, a quarter each. When fifteen of these canvases were exhibited at Durand-Ruel’s in Paris between May 4 and May 18, 1891, their impact was as forceful as their elemental motifs and the show was an enormous success…. In moving from one canvas to another, one senses not only the many artful choices Monet made, but also his deep engagement with the stacks themselves. They are never overwhelmed by the light or obscured by the atmosphere, and thus they never lose their identity as forms. Monet even goes so far as to outline them, often in bold colors, and to define their conical tops by rivulets of light that run down their undulating edges. Although inert, the stacks seem to be invested with great feeling… P. H. Tucker, Monet in the ‘90s, The Series Paintings (exhibition catalog), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1989, pp. 77 & 82 https://archive.org/details/monetin90sseries00tuck

For a Student Activity on Les Meules à Giverny, simply means The Stacks at Giverny, please… Check HERE!

La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht

by 19th century ArtArtFrench ArtMuseumsPost-ImpressionismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French Artist, 1864-1901
La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht, 1893-1899, Album of 12 lithographs printed on superior Vélin paper, 448/750, 52.6 × 36 cm, Printed by Mourlot Frères, Paris, and André Thiry, Brittany, published by Librairie Gründ, Paris, 1948, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens

In the summer of 1895 Lautrec embarked on a voyage from Le Havre to Bordeaux with Maurice Guibert, on the steamer Le Chili.  During the voyage he discovered a young woman, one of his fellow passengers, in cabin No. 54, who was on her way to join her husband, a colonial official in Senegal. He was so fascinated by her beauty that, despite protests from Guibert, he determined to stay on board once the ship reached Bordeaux and continue south with the vessel.  It was not until they reached Lisbon that his friend succeeded in getting Lautrec — who was determined to carry on as far as Dakar — off the ship. Guibert then took the artist via Madrid and Toledo to the spa of Taussat, and the trip ended in late summer near Bordeaux, at the Château de Malromé, the main residence of Lautrec’s mother. This is how La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was inspired and created! A fascinating story… http://www.maitres-des-arts-graphiques.com/Toulouse-Lautrec,%20Passagere.html  

Back in Paris, Toulouse-Lautrec carefully and swiftly developed his, now-famous, lithograph La passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht. The stylish young, red-haired woman of the lithograph was apparently unaware of the artist’s presence, the two were never introduced, and her name is unknown. What apparently captured the artist’s eye was the way the young woman leisurely reclined in a striped chair on the yacht’s deck. What captivated his soul was her air of nonchalance, the way she gazed at the sea and the ships sailing by… her dreamlike demeanor that beautifully captured the essence of opulent living.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French Artist, 1864-1901
La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht, 1896, Lithograph in olive green, 596 by 400 mm, Private Collection

Working with a few scant references… his memory, a photograph secretly taken on board by his friend, the photographer Maurice Guibert, and sketches he did, based on the photograph, Toulouse-Lautrec finished his coloured lithograph by the end of autumn 1895. The lithograph skillfully depicted the casual and fleeting nature of a quick glance, reflecting a style that Lautrec had honed in his paintings and prints during the 1890s. He executed the work with a keen and swift hand, using graphite for precise touches. The focus was on the figure, delicately outlining details such as the upper edge of the straw boater hat, the swept-back hair, the contours of the shirt and jacket lapel, the seam and fold in the puffed shoulder of the sleeve, the meticulous upturn of the glove cuff, the graceful curves of the deck chair, and the smooth shading on the cover of the open book. These adjustments appear to correspond to the red highlights that were included in the coloured version.

The warm, yellowish tones of the deck, chair, and the woman’s hair harmoniously blend with the vibrant blues of the sea and the text (in the later, poster version), showcasing the artist’s masterful understanding and application of colour. This skillful use of colour invites the viewers to immerse themselves in the private world of the young woman, allowing them to intimately experience the cozy and tranquil atmosphere depicted in the artwork.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French Artist, 1864-1901
La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht, 1895–96. Color lithographic poster, 60.4 × 39.7 cm, Princeton University Art Museum
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French Artist, 1864-1901
La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht, 1895, Lithograph on cream Japon Impérial paper in olive green, 600×400 mm, Private Collection

Maurice Joyant, gallerist, and biographer of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec wrote for the poster of the beautiful passagère… Chose exquise de ton, d’élégance, d’expression de laisser-aller, de la douceur de vivre, le regard errant, par beau temps. http://www.maitres-des-arts-graphiques.com/Toulouse-Lautrec,%20Passagere.html

For a Student Activity titled Exploring Toulouse-Lautrec’s Iconic Posters, please… Check HERE!

A short Video of La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht, created by NGA of Australia, is recommended… https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object/168065

Memories steeped in dream, The Art of the Multiple, from the Collection of the Basil & Εlise Goulandris Foundation (05.08 – 03.12 2023) is an upcoming Exhibition in the B&E Goulandris Foundation, in Athens, Greece. Artworks by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Joan Miró, and Balthus will be presented. The lithograph of La Passagère will be among the Stars of the Exhibition! https://goulandris.gr/en/exhibition/memories-steeped-in-dream#

Photo Credits: https://goulandris.gr/el/exhibition/memories-steeped-in-dream and https://static.artmuseum.princeton.edu/mirador3/?manifest=https://data.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/objects/10362&canvas=https://data.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/objects/10362/canvas/10362-canvas-121774 and https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/prints-n09138/lot.139.html and http://www.maitres-des-arts-graphiques.com/Toulouse-Lautrec,%20Passagere.html

Olympe de Gouges

by 18th century ArtArtFrench ArtRococoSocial StudiesStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Alexander Kucharsky, 1741–1819
Portrait of Olympe de Gouges, 18th century, pastel on canvas, Private Collection https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olympe_de_Gouges.png

Yesterday, at seven o’clock in the evening, a most extraordinary person called Olympe de Gouges who held the imposing title of woman of letters, was taken to the scaffold, while all of Paris, while admiring her beauty, knew that she didn’t even know her alphabet… She approached the scaffold with a calm and serene expression on her face and forced the guillotine’s furies, which had driven her to this place of torture, to admit that such courage and beauty had never been seen before… That woman… had thrown herself in the Revolution, body, and soul. But having quickly perceived how atrocious the system adopted by the Jacobins was, she chose to retrace her steps. She attempted to unmask the villains through the literary productions which she had printed and put up. They never forgave her, and she paid for her carelessness with her head… wrote an anonymous Parisian who kept a chronicle of the 1793 events. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges

Olympe de Gouges was a French playwright, novelist, and political activist who is best known for her writings on women’s rights and social justice. She was born Marie Gouze on May 7, 1748, in Montauban, France. Her mother, Anne Olympe Mouisset Gouze, was the daughter of a bourgeois family, but the identity of her father is ambiguous. Marie Gouze encouraged rumors that Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan was her father, and their relationship is considered plausible but historically unverifiable.

In 1765, Olympe de Gouges married Louis-Yves Aubry, a man much older than her. The marriage was an unhappy one. In 1766 her husband died, and Olympe, funded by her wealthy friend, Jacques Biétrix de Rozières, moved to Paris in 1770 to pursue a career in writing. Described as one of the prettiest women in Paris, de Gouges socialized in fashionable society, attending the most artistic and philosophical salons of Paris. She wrote plays, novels, and pamphlets on a variety of topics, including women’s rights, slavery, and political reform. Her most famous work is the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, which she wrote in response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen during the French Revolution.

She was an advocate for women’s suffrage and believed that women should have the same rights as men. She also spoke out against the slave trade and called for the abolition of slavery. De Gouges was an active participant in the French Revolution and supported the Girondists, a moderate political group. However, her views were unpopular with the radical Jacobin faction, and she was arrested and executed by the guillotine on November 3, 1793, during the Reign of Terror. De Gouges’ legacy as a feminist and social justice advocate has been recognized in recent years. Her name is now engraved on the Pantheon in Paris, a mausoleum that honors distinguished French citizens.

Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, 1791
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/DDFC.jpg

Olympe de Gouges wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791, during the French Revolution. The revolution brought about a lot of discussion about individual rights and freedoms, and Gouges saw this as an opportunity to advocate for women’s rights as well. As a feminist writer and activist, who believed in the equality of men and women, Gouges was particularly concerned with the ways in which women were excluded from political and legal rights, and the ways in which they were treated as inferior to men in society. She believed that women were capable of reason and should be granted the same rights and opportunities as men.

The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen was Gouges’ response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was passed by the National Assembly in 1789 and proclaimed the equality of all men. Gouges argued that this declaration did not go far enough and that women were also entitled to the same rights and freedoms. In her declaration, Gouges called for women to have the right to vote, to hold public office, and to receive education. She also argued that marriage should be based on mutual consent and that women should have the right to divorce if they wished. Her declaration was a radical and controversial document at the time, and it was not widely accepted by the French government or society.

Hoping to expose the failures of the French Revolution in the recognition of gender equality.. Houges’ The Declaration of the Rights of Woman starts…

Mothers, daughters, sisters, female representatives of the nation ask to be constituted as a national assembly. Considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt for the rights of woman are the sole causes of public misfortunes and governmental corruption, they have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of woman: so that by being constantly present to all the members of the social body this declaration may always remind them of their rights and duties; so that by being liable at every moment to comparison with the aim of any and all political institutions the acts of women’s and men’s powers may be the more fully respected; and so that by being founded henceforward on simple and incontestable principles the demands of the citizenesses may always tend toward maintaining the constitution, good morals, and the general welfare.

In consequence, the sex that is superior in beauty as in courage, needed in maternal sufferings, recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of woman and the citizeness… https://revolution.chnm.org/d/293

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun with Her Daughter Julie

by 18th century ArtArtFrench ArtRococoStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, French Artist, 1755–1842
Self-portrait with Her Daughter, Julie, 1786, oil on panel, 105 × 84 cm, the Louvre, Paris, France https://histoire-image.org/etudes/nouveau-visage-amour-maternel
Self-Portrait with Her Daughter, Julie (à l’Antique), 1789, oil on canvas, 130×94 cm, the Louvre Museum, Paris France https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Self-portrait_with_Her_Daughter_by_Elisabeth-Louise_Vig%C3%A9e_Le_Brun.jpg

Sonnet IV by Victorian Poet Augusta Davies Webster, the Victorian Poet, reads… ‘Tis but a child. The quiet Juno gaze /     Breaks at a trifle into mirth and glow, /     Changed as a folded bud bursts into blow, / And she springs, buoyant, on some busy craze, / Or, in the rhythm of her girlish plays, /     Like light upon swift waves floats to and fro, /     And, whatsoe’er’s her mirth, needs me to know, And keeps me young by her young innocent ways.    /    Just now she and her kitten raced and sprang /     To catch the daisy ball she tossed about; /     Then they grew grave, and found a shady tree, / And kitty tried to see the notes she sang: / Now she flies hitherward–“Mother! Quick! Come see! /     Two hyacinths in my garden almost out!” Presenting two paintings of Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun with Her Daughter, Julie is my humble contribution to May 14, and Mother’s Day! https://allpoetry.com/Mother-and-Daughter–Sonnet-Sequence

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) was a French portrait painter who became one of the most celebrated artists of her time. Born in Paris, she was the daughter of a painter, Louis Vigée, and began studying art at a young age. She showed a remarkable talent for portraiture, and by the age of fifteen, she was supporting herself and her family through her art. In 1776, Vigée Le Brun married a wealthy art dealer named Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun, which helped to expand her social and professional networks. She soon became a favorite painter of the French aristocracy, including Queen Marie Antoinette, whom she painted numerous times.

During the French Revolution, Vigée Le Brun fled France due to her close association with the royal court. She spent several years traveling throughout Europe, painting portraits of various members of the nobility and aristocracy. She eventually settled in Russia, where she became a favorite painter of Catherine the Great. After the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the French monarchy, Vigée Le Brun was able to return to France. She continued to paint portraits and exhibited her work regularly at the Paris Salon. She was also an accomplished writer, publishing several memoirs that detailed her life and career.

Vigée Le Brun’s art is known for its refined elegance and sensitivity to the individual character of her subjects. She painted many of the leading figures of her time, including royalty, politicians, and artists, and her work is now housed in museums and collections around the world. She was a pioneer for women in the male-dominated world of art, and her legacy as a ground-breaking female artist continues to inspire generations of artists today.

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, French Artist, 1755–1842
Self-portrait with Her Daughter, Julie, 1786, oil on panel, 105 × 84 cm, the Louvre, Paris, France https://histoire-image.org/etudes/nouveau-visage-amour-maternel
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, French Artist, 1755–1842
Self-portrait with Her Daughter, Julie (detail), 1786, oil on panel, 105 × 84 cm, the Louvre, Paris, France
https://www.facebook.com/museedulouvre/photos/naissance-de-%C3%A9lisabeth-louise-vig%C3%A9e-le-brun-birth-of-%C3%A9lisabeth-louise-vig%C3%A9e-le-b/10154657162619926/

In 1786, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun painted her first Self-Portrait with her daughter Jeanne Julie Louise, whom she called Julie, and caused a scandal! She presented herself holding her child most affectionately, looking straight to the viewer and smiling with her lips parted and her teeth showing. The 1787 gossip sheet ‘Mémoires secrets’ wrote… An affectation which artists, art-lovers and persons of taste have been united in condemning, and which finds no precedent among the Ancients, is that in smiling, [Madame Vigée-Lebrun] shows her teeth. Yet, Count of Angiviller, director general of the King’s Buildings, liked her Self-Portrait, as exhibited in the Salon of 1787, and requested that the artist paint a second version of the same subject. In 1789, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun complied and presented Self-Portrait with Her Daughter, Julie (à l’Antique). https://histoire-image.org/etudes/nouveau-visage-amour-maternel

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1755–1842
Self-Portrait with Her Daughter, Julie (à l’Antique), 1789, oil on canvas, 130×94 cm, the Louvre Museum, Paris France https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Self-portrait_with_Her_Daughter_by_Elisabeth-Louise_Vig%C3%A9e_Le_Brun.jpg

Both paintings by Vigée Le Brun are beautiful examples of the artist’s work and a significant representation of the Late Rococo Style. The paintings are notable for their emotional depth and the strong depicted bond between mother and child. They are a testament to the artist’s skill and her ability to capture the essence of her subject in a way that is both truthful and beautiful.

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

April by Lucien Pissarro

by 19th century ArtArtFrench ArtImpressionismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Lucien Pissarro, French Artist, 1863–1944
April, Epping, 1894, Oil paint on canvas, 603 × 730 mm, Tate, London, UK
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-april-epping-r1139298

Oh, to be in England / Now that April’s there, / And whoever wakes in England / Sees, some morning, unaware, / That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf / Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, / While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough / In England—now! Robert Browning probably wrote Home-Thoughts, from Abroad in 1845, while he was staying in Italy, homesick of the English countryside during a glorious April morning! Interestingly, April by Lucien Pissarro is an Impressionistic painting of a similar April morning by a French artist living in England! https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43758/home-thoughts-from-abroad

Lucien Pissarro was a French painter, printmaker, and etcher. He was born on February 20, 1863, in Paris, France, and was the oldest son of the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. He began his artistic education at a young age, studying under his father and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1884, he began exhibiting his work in Impressionist exhibitions, and in 1886, he participated in the 8th and final Impressionist exhibition. In 1888, Pissarro moved to London, where he became a member of the New English Art Club and began to develop his own unique style, influenced by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and Japanese prints. He spent the next two decades in London, exhibiting his work and participating in the city’s art scene. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

Portrait of Lucien Pissarro, c.1937, Photograph, black and white, on paper, taken by Lafayette Ltd, London, Tate Archive, London, UK
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

In 1910, Pissarro returned to France and settled in the small town of Éragny-sur-Epte, where he focused on painting landscapes and rural scenes. He continued to exhibit his work, and in 1913, he was awarded the Légion d’honneur. Pissarro’s work is characterized by his use of vibrant colors, bold brushstrokes, and a focus on nature. He is considered to be one of the most important Impressionist painters of the 20th century. Pissarro died on July 10, 1944, in Éragny-sur-Epte, France. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

According to the TATE experts David Fraser Jenkins and Helena Bonet, …Lucien Pissarro exhibited April, Epping at the New English Art Club in November–December 1904, where he renewed contact with artists, he had met more than ten years earlier. He was invited to join Walter Sickert’s Fitzroy Street Group in 1907, and so became acquainted with those who went on to form the Camden Town Group in 1911. For the younger artists of the group in particular, Pissarro represented a direct link to the origins of impressionism and neo-impressionism, his father Camille being a great inspiration, as well as his friends Seurat, Signac, and van Gogh. The influence of Pissarro’s style and technique can be traced in the work of Spencer Gore, Harold Gilman, William Ratcliffe and James Bolivar Manson in particular. Sickert wrote of this influence in the New Age in May 1914: ‘Mr. Pissarro, holding the exceptional position at once of an original talent, and of the pupil of his father, the authoritative depository of a mass of inherited knowledge and experience, has certainly served us as a guide, or, let us say, a dictionary of theory and practice on the road we have elected to travel.’ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

Created just a few years after he settled in England, April, Epping is for Lucien Pissarro a new approach to Landscape painting. He breaks away from the ‘teachings’ of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, the ‘neo-impressionist’ or ‘divisionist’ artists with whom he had been friend in Paris, and he creates a landscape painting characterized by thick, visible brushstrokes, and a strong emphasis on light and color. He uses ordered, criss-crossed touches of paint, mostly light green but with a variety of other colours, showing recession by means of colour, and he uses touches of orange, mauve and blue paints among the green of the meadow, to re-introduce the key principle of impressionism, that, of coloured shadows. In May 1894 Lucien Pissarro wrote to his father asking for new materials and …short brushes, like the ones Cézanne used … because I am going to try to paint in an entirely different way. Did he? https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-april-epping-r1139298

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Eleanor of Aquitaine

by ArtFrench ArtMedieval Art
The effigies of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England, 1122-1204, Fontevraud Abbey, France https://www.medievalists.net/2013/11/eleanor-queen-of-france-and-england-and-duchess-of-aquitaine/

Imagine a gender-equal world. A world, free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Today, the 8th of March, many countries around the world celebrate International Women’s Day, a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic, or political. The United Nations page on Women’s Day reminds us how… the growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.  A BLOG POST on Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most celebrated political figures – male or female – in the Middle Ages, will be my humble contribution to the importance of the day. https://www.internationalwomensday.com/ and https://www.un.org/en/observances/womens-day/background

Admired for her intellect and physical beauty, an astute manager of her estates and finances, a renowned patron of the arts, considered to be the queen of troubadour poetry, Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of two Kings, Louis VII of France (r. 1137-1180), and Henry II of England (r. 1154-1189), and mother of two other, Richard the Lionheart (r. 1189-1199), and John Lackland (r. 1199-1216), was a political force to reckon. As the Duchess of Aquitaine,  Eleanor controlled much of southwestern France, making her one of the wealthiest, most powerful, and most sophisticated women of the Middle Ages.   

In 1147 Eleanor took part in the Second Crusade along with her ladies-in-waiting, her ‘Amazones,’ and a combat unit of 300 non-noble Aquitainian vassals under the leadership of commander Geoffrey III of Rancon. As the Duchess of Aquitaine, she was the feudal leader of the soldiers from her duchy, and although she was accused of carrying a mile-long baggage train for adornments, and behaving, at times, as if she was attending a palace ball, the same people who criticized her, made clear she was admired, trusted, and respected by her troops.

I can only imagine how Eleonor must have felt when, during November of 1147, she arrived at the Gates of Constantinople… To the Byzantines, she stood out from the rest (her ‘Amazons’) as another Penthesilea, and from the embroidered gold which ran around the hem and fringes of her garment,  was called Chrysópous (Goldfoot). Niketas Choniates, in his O City of Byzantium (Book 1 on Emperor Manuel Komnenos, page 35), singles her out, compares her to the mythical Queen of the Amazons, and compliments her on her style. https://www.academia.edu/36547117/O_City_of_Byzantium_Annals_of_Niketas_Choniates_Ttranslated_by_Harry_J_Magoulias_1984_pdf

Donor portrait, A noble lady kneeling, maybe Eleanor of Aquitaine, (KB 76 F 13, folium 028v), ca. 1180-1185, Manuscript with Illuminations on Vellum, Height: 232 mm, Width: 169 mm, Royal Library of the Netherlands https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donor_portrait_-_A_noble_lady_kneeling_-_Psalter_of_Eleanor_of_Aquitaine_(ca._1185)_-_KB_76_F_13,_folium_028v.jpg

Many years later, while married to Henry II of England, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, one of the poets patronized by Henry II and a member of the Queen’s literary circles in her court of Aquitaine, wrote for her… For this, truly, I fear to be blamed / by her who has so much kindness/ who has nobility, esteem and merit, / honesty, wisdom and honour, / goodness, temperance and cleanness, / noble generosity and beauty; / in whom the misfits of many ladies / are by her goodness extinguished; / In whom all science abounds, / and she is second to none / who may be in the world in any law. / The great lady of the great king, with no evil, wrath, or sadness, / may you always have joy” file:///C:/Users/aspil/Downloads/Dialnet-TheQueenOfTroubadoursGoesToEnglandEleanorOfAquitai-3867018.pdf page 28

Judy Chicago, American Artist, b. 1939
The Dinner Party, Eleanor of Aquitaine place setting, 1974–79. Mixed media: ceramic, porcelain, textile, Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, NY, USA https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/eleanor_of_aquitaine

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, a milestone in 20th-century feminist art, presents a ‘symbolic’ ceremonial banquet, arranged on a triangular table, for thirty-nine carefully chosen female guests, all of them exceptional and unique! Each guest is represented with a bespoke place setting, consisting of an intricately embroidered runner executed in a historically specific manner, a china-painted porcelain plate rendered in a style appropriate to the individual woman being honored, and a gold chalice and utensils. Eleanor of Aquitaine, independent, spirited, inquisitive, and resilient, is one of these thirty-nine women… and rightly so! https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/eleanor_of_aquitaine

For a Student Activity titled An Interview with Eleanor of Aquitaine, please… Check HERE!

For Student Activities inspired by Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, please Check… http://s3.amazonaws.com/brooklynmuseum.org-public/education/docs/Dinner_Party_Edu_resources.pdf

Fontevraud Abbey in France and the Interior of the Church
The four tombs belong to Henry II of England (r. 1154-1189) and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (l. c. 1122-1204), Richard I of England (r. 1189-1199), and Isabella of Angoulême (c. 1186-1246), wife of King John of England (r. 1199-1216) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontevraud_Abbey

Trilogy of Soap Bubbles

by 18th century ArtArtFrench ArtPowerpointsRococo
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435888
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Jean_Sim%C3%A9on_Chardin%2C_Soap_Bubbles%2C_probably_1733-1734%2C_NGA_994.jpg
https://collections.lacma.org/node/242227   

In Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s eulogy, he was remembered for having once said, “One makes use of pigments, but one paints with one’s feelings.” And feelings he presents in his Trilogy of Soap Bubbles… three paintings of playful boys and shiny, shimmering, iridescent soap spheres… and a game, suggesting the transience of life. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/jean-simeon-chardin-soap-bubbles-1

The Metropolitan Museum of New York experts, where my favourite Chardin painting of Soap Bubbles reside, inform us that… The idle play of children was a favorite theme of Chardin, a naturalist among painters. Apparently, the experts continue, he drew inspiration from the seventeenth-century Dutch genre tradition for both the format and the subject, but it is not clear if the artist’s intention was for his painting, understood then to allude to the transience of life, carried such a message. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435888

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin was the son of a modest cabinetmaker and the student of equally modest artists. Born and raised in Paris, the artist rarely left the city, drawing inspiration from Parisian genre scenes and arrangements of typically French objects and food. He lived on the Left Bank near Saint-Sulpice until 1757, when Louis XV granted him a studio and living quarters in the Louvre. He started his career by painting signposts for tradesmen and details in other artists’ works but in 1728, the Portraitist Nicolas de Largillière “discovered” him at an outdoor show, and Chardin was immediately admitted for membership in the Académie Royale.https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/103JYN and https://www.jean-baptiste-simeon-chardin.org/biography.html

Chardin was a frequent participant at the Parisian Salon, a dedicated academician, and, later in life, a pensioner of the French King. He was much admired by Denis Diderot, who would prove to be a great champion of his work. All of his paintings exhibited in the Parisian Salons were outstandingly successful.  By 1770 Chardin was the ‘Premiere peintre du roi’, and his pension of 1,400 livres was the highest in the Academy. I am not surprised… even his simple, unassuming Still Lifes are treated with dignity and respect. So much so, that the novelist Marcel Proust wrote… We have learned from Chardin that a pear is as living as a woman, that an ordinary piece of pottery is as beautiful as a precious stone! https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/103JYN and https://www.jean-baptiste-simeon-chardin.org/biography.html

According to the dealer and collector Jean Pierre Mariette, writing some fifteen years after the fact, Chardin’s first figural picture, the MET experts inform us, showed a head of a young man blowing bubbles and was studied from a model. Between 1733 and 1739 Chardin painted three paintings, titled Soap Bubbles. It is also known, that in 1739 a version of Soap Bubbles was exhibited at the Paris Salon. The question is… which version? The answer is probably none of the three that have survived, in the Metropolitan Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. They are definitely similar but not identical, none of them is dated, two of them are horizontals, and one, at the National Gallery, is vertical. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435888

Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin’s Trilogy of Soap Bubbles is popular and well-liked! The viewers are absorbed by the depiction of a boy poised on a stone windowsill blowing a big soap bubble and the younger boy next to him, fully absorbed in the activity. Although Chardin gives the illusion of capturing two youths in a candid moment, he has rigorously constructed his composition. Was his intention to present the viewer with an allegorical scene? Does it matter what the artist’s intention was? Are Chardin’s paintings of Soap Bubbles the perfect example of Rococo Art? My answer… I do not know… all I want is to feast my eyes and enjoy a moment of playfulness, and innocence… https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.994.html

For a PowerPoint on Chardin’s Soap Bubbles, please… Check HERE!

A wonderful Video for Children, prepared by the National Gallery of Art, on Chardin’s Soap Bubbles… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaxg6MjjM6g

Hand With Seaweed and Shells by Émile Gallé

by 20th century ArtArtArt NouveauFrench ArtPowerpoints
Émile Gallé, French Artist, 1846–1904
Hand With Seaweed and Shells, 1904, Glass modeled under heat with inclusions of metallic oxides, veins, applications in low and high relief and wheel engraving, 33.4 x  13.4 cm, Musée d’Orsay
https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/exhibitions/hand-seaweed-and-shells-emile-galles-artistic-testament-196300 and https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/51791464437097192/

Charles Baudelaire wrote… Homme libre, toujours tu chériras la mer! / La mer est ton miroir; tu contemples ton âme / Dans le déroulement infini de sa lame, / Et ton esprit n’est pas un gouffre moins amer.     /     Tu te plais à plonger au sein de ton image; / Tu l’embrasses des yeux et des bras, et ton Coeur / Se distrait quelquefois de sa propre rumeur / Au bruit de cette plainte indomptable et sauvage.     /     Vous êtes tous les deux ténébreux et discrets: / Homme, nul n’a sondé le fond de tes abîmes; / Ô mer, nul ne connaît tes richesses intimes, / Tant vous êtes jaloux de garder vos secrets!     /     Et cependant voilà des siècles innombrables / Que vous vous combattez sans pitié ni remords, / Tellement vous aimez le carnage et la mort, / Ô lutteurs éternels, ô frères implacables! Could the amazing Hand With Seaweed and Shells by Émile Gallé in the Musée d’Orsay celebrates the symbolic role of the sea as well? https://fleursdumal.org/poem/113

The French designer Émile Gallé, a pioneer glassmaker of the late 19th, and early 20th centuries was a leading creator of the Art Nouveau style. According to the POLA Museum of Art experts, Art Nouveau is characterized by curvilinear lines inspired by natural organic forms. Gallé was at the forefront of glass art in this style. He produced a succession of outstanding artworks incorporating his knowledge of the natural sciences, particularly botany and biology, and his outstanding technical expertise. The art production by Gallé, with their plant, insect, animal, and sea creature motifs, can be compared to the act of collecting nature. https://www.polamuseum.or.jp/en/exhibition/20180317s01/

Back in 2004, Musée d’Orsay organized an exhibition titled La Main aux algues et aux coquillages. Le testament artistique d’Emile Gallé to celebrate the centenary of Émile Gallé‘s death (1846-1904). As the title indicates the Exhibition was centered on the artist’s ultimate masterpiece, generously donated to the museum by his descendants in 1990, Hand With Seaweed and Shells. https://archivesdunord.com/5291–p-galle-le-testament-artistique-p-.html

Hand With Seaweed and Shells is the last work of crafted glass produced by the master from Nancy and represents the culmination of his technical mastery. It was exhibited at the Decorative Art Exhibition in Nancy in October 1904, a month after the artist’s death. This exceptional glass sculpture has been hot when modeled, metal oxides were used, and the engraving has been made in relief at the base. The artist used the marbling technique and glass applications in low and high relief. Finally, the engraving was done with the help of a wheel. https://www.wikiwand.com/fr/La_Main_aux_algues_et_aux_coquillages and https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/hand-with-seaweed-and-shells-emile-gall%C3%A9/3QH1q7j-jzvqaw

Émile Gallé, French Artist, 1846–1904
Hand With Seaweed and Shells (Details), 1904, Glass modeled under heat with inclusions of metallic oxides, veins, applications in low and high relief and wheel engraving, 33.4 x  13.4 cm, Musée d’Orsay https://www.panoramadelart.com/main-galle and https://art.rmngp.fr/fr/library/artworks/emile-galle_la-main-aux-algues-et-aux-coquillages_inclusion_grave-a-la-roue-verre_cristal-matiere_application-a-chaud_1904

According to the Musée d’Orsay experts, Hand With Seaweed and Shells is a strangely and ambiguously connoted work questioning if the artist’s work depicts a Hand coming out of the water or if it shows a Hand slowly sinking into it. Does it symbolize life or death? Is it an allusion to Aphrodite being born from the foam in the Ionian sea, or to Ophelia floating along the current? Is this Hand, despite appearances – fineness of the fingertips, shells looking like rings – really a woman’s hand, or is it the artist’s own hand? Whatever the answers are, this is exceptional… a work of art inspired by the world of the sea. https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/exhibitions/hand-seaweed-and-shells-emile-galles-artistic-testament-196300

For a PowerPoint on Émile Gallé and the World of the Sea, please… Check HERE!