Thomas Hart Benton: Parisian Studies

"Le Jardin Potager et le Clocher d'Eragny" by Camille Pissarro

"I was certain that studying at the Academie Julian would not lead to any kind of art that I wanted to produce. I was not sympathetic to the charcoal techniques insisted upon in the drawing classes. My habitual approach approach to drawing, developed perhaps by my constant use of pen and ink, put more emphasis on line than these techniques permitted. The poses of the models were held for a week, sometimes two, and it was hard for me to sustain interest for so long a time. To add to my general dissatisfaction with the Academie, my pride was assaulted when I was assigned for my first two weeks to a cast-drawing class. Nevertheless, I stuck to the place for eight months.

At the end of the spring term on 1909, I left the Academie Julian and took to drawing independently at the Academie Collarossi, a famous sketching studio of the Quartier Montparnasse. There was no instruction, but a model was always there, and by coming early, one could get close enough to see. This had rarely been the case for me at Julian's, where studio positions were always assigned. Also, mature and even famous artists sketched at Collarossi's, providing more stimulating examples than the plodders at the Academie Julian.

I also began regular visits to the Louvre, sometimes daily, making rough pencil studies of the drawings, sculptures, and paintings there. This was continued all during my Parisian stay and provided an introduction to Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance art. There was also a permanent exhibit of the Impressionists' work at the Luxembourg Museum. The picture that most attracted me was a sunlit scene of red tile roofs and backyard gardens by Pissarro [see above]. Perhaps because of the clear-cut exposition of method in this picture, I made myself an ardent disciple of Pissarro and tried to paint as nearly in his manner as I could. I began with still lifes, but when spring came, I carried my experiments out to the parks and streets of Paris."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "An American in Art: A Professional and Technical Autobiography" by Thomas Hart Benton.)