Lilla Cabot Perry: The Giverny Years, Part II

"Eugenie in the Garden" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"The winter of 1905 which the family spent in Paris was a dreadful one for Lilla Cabot Perry, who suffered 'a near breakdown,' which her husband attributed to 'thirty years of insomnia.' It was true that she suffered from insomnia all her life, and she was also prone to headaches and fainting spells. Thomas Perry's own depressive states, however, and the family's uprooted lives certainly also accounted for her collapse that winter. 

There were many changes in Giverny, as the Perrys observed at the marvelous dinner at Monet's house honoring their return. Theodore Butler had remarried, following the tragic death of his first wife in 1899. The American colony was sprouting a new crop of talented artists, led by Frederick Frieseke, who was settled in with his wife in the Perrys' former residence next door to Monet. Guy Rose had returned with a charming new wife. Lawton Parker was also in residence. Edmund Graecen and Will Low joined the group in 1907.

Painting, as always, was Lilla's passion at Giverny and she limited her social visits to the Monet or Butler households. She also took memorable day trips with her husband to the Walter Gays' magnificent chateau, Le Breau, near Melun. The major change in her compositions of this time is the return of color to her palette. Lilla was sixty years of age when six of her paintings were exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Independants in 1908.  A prominent art periodical featured four of them with illustrations in its review of the event. Inasmuch as over 6,700 works were presented at the salon, this was high praise in the Paris press.

Ironically, her success coincided with her strong desire to return to Boston. This broke her husband's heart, for he was never more happy than in the stimulating intellectual atmosphere of France. Furthermore, he had also just renewed ties with his dearest childhood friend, Henry James. At her husband's insistence, Lilla agreed to postpone their departure for two more summers.

Their final summer in 1909 was spent in Giverny. It was a wet, dreary season during which Monet 'barely touched a brush' and was burning more canvases, to the despair of his family and dealer. Henry James remarked, 'Lilla must find her studies from nature a desperate business, when nature is all day long in the bath.' In November 1909 the Perrys sailed for America fully intending to return to France in a few years' time. They never did."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)

Lilla Cabot Perry: Mt. Fuji, the Lotus and Japan

"In a Japanese Garden" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"While the painting of landscapes prevailed during Lilla Cabot Perry's three years in Japan, one motif dominated all others - the 'simple splendour' of the divine mountain, Fujiyama or Mount Fuji. At least thirty-five versions of Fuji by Lilla were exhibited during her lifetime, and she certainly painted many others. She would travel for weeks at a time, sometimes with one or two of her daughters, sometimes simply with her chambermaid, Tsune, to observe and record the sacred mountain from all angles and at all hours. Wherever she went crowds soon gathered around her easel, amazed both to see a lady painting out of doors and to view the results on her canvases. Years later she still recalled their comments: 'very like, very like!'

Many bystanders also gathered when she went to Oya, near Karuisawa, in September 1900 to paint another sacred theme - a bed of lotus flowers. La Farge and Whistler had introduced the cult of the lotus into American art forty years before. Lilla's plein-air interpretations of the theme are vibrant, decorative, full-blown bursts of color which present similiarities with the work of certain Fauve artists and several paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe.

In June 1901 the Perrys spent a final month at Kamakura by the sea, where she painted every day. By August they were back again in Boston, but the memories of that exceptional experience in Japan remained vivid for her all her life. Indeed, years later she wrote to her granddaughter Elizabeth Grew, 'Remember when you go to a country, try to plunge into the inner life of the country and to really know the people and their point of life, their ambitions, ideals, etc. I know the French as if I had made them, and the Japanese far better than [Mrs. L.] who lived there 38 years.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)

Lilla Cabot Perry: Japan's Art Scene, Late 1800's

"Otsune San" by Lilla Cabot Perry

Thomas and Lilla Perry had gone to Japan for his work as Professor of English Language and Literature at Keiogijiku University in Tokyo. "Lilla's three-year residence in Japan opened up a whole new direction in her art. As her husband pointed out, 'Japanese prints and paintings, besides conveying to the outside world the most vivid knowledge of what the country is, have practically revolutionized modern art by their wonderful artistic simplicity.'

Both Perrys soon discovered, however, that the situation of the art world inside Japan in 1898 was anything but simple. In brief, the prints and paintings of the Ukiyo-e School, as exemplified by Hokusai, Utamaro and Hiroshige, symbolized Japonism to Western eyes and were a source of inspiration for Whistler, La Farge and the Impressionists, in particular. Inside Japan, however, such works were 'forbidden' during the Meiji reign through the 1880s. By contrast, an 'orgy of foreignism' characterized the attitude of the leaders in power after Commodore Perry 'forced open' the doors of Japan in 1854.

Counteracting this 'wholesale destruction' of the nation's culture were the efforts of two of the world's leading orientalists - Ernest Fenollosa, Curator of Oriental Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and his colleague Okakura Kakuzo. Together, with the Emperor's consent, they founded the Imperial Art School in Tokyo, which was dedicated to reviving traditional skills, as well as to promoting Western trends. In 1898 Okakura resigned to found a new school, the Nippon Bijuitsi-in, to accelerate the rehabilitation of traditional arts and crafts. Thirty-nine of the country's finest artists formerly associated with the Imperial School joined Okakura in his new endeavor.

Lilla had met Okakura, a close friend of La Farge, and Fenollosa eleven years earlier, when the three of them toured the National Gallery in London in the summer of 1887. She greatly appreciated the friendship of Okakura, who shared her admiration of Rembrandt and other Old Masters. She was, of course, particularly honored when Okakyra helped to organize an exhibition of her paintings in Tokyo in October 1898. Subsequently, she became an honorary member of the Nippon Bijuitsi-in Art Association."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.) 

Lilla Cabot Perry: First Solo Show

"Playing by Heart [Alice Perry]"
by Lilla Cabot Perry

"During the Perrys' three-year absence, Boston had undergone great transformations in an effort to maintain its cultural prestige in the face of an increasing challenge from New York. The most notable development was the completion of the new Boston Public Library, 'a splendid palace,' as Lilla's husband characterized it, which symbolized America's 'Renaissance'. Puvis de Chavanne's great mural paintings, which crowned the grand staircase, were a source of immense civic pride. Lilla was particularly enthusiastic about the central panel entitled 'The Inspired Muses,' which expressed the spiritual virtues of music. Puvis previously had evoked this theme in his painting of 1852, 'Inspiration.' It was certainly no coincidence that Lilla's own graceful portrait 'Playing by Heart [Alice Perry],' a variation on a similar theme with fresco allusions, was painted at this time.

Lilla's paintings drew high praise in Boston when the St. Botolph Club opened the winter season of 1897 with her first solo show. Although a substantial number of landscapes from Giverny were presented the conservative art critic of the 'Boston Evening Transcript,' William Downes, focused all his attention on the 'artistic verity' of her portraits. He wrote: 

'Mrs. Perry is one of the most genuine, no-nonsense, natural painters that we know of, the distinguishing trait of her work is its genuineness. The row of pictures impresses one with a sense of invaluable candor and wholesomeness, where nothing is done for effect, but every touch is inspired by an ardent conviction of artistic verity and fitness. It is only superior art which can afford to be so open, so free from artifice, and so self-forgetful. Such work must be taken seriously.'

 The St. Botolph Club exhibition was a milestone for Perry and a consecration of her art in her native Boston. It also ended an important chapter in her career as an artist. Her daughter s were past childhood and thus could no longer serve as the models upon which her reputation was established. She needed a new orientation. It came sooner than expected when her husband accepted a position as Professor of English Language and Literature at Keiogijiku University in Tokyo."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionst" by Meredith Martindale.)

Lilla Cabot Perry: Camille Pissarro

"A Fairy Tale" by Lilla Cabot Perry

Lilla Cabot Perry and her husband were most anxious to meet Camille Pissarro, and when they managed to do just that, Thomas Perry gave an account to a friend:

'We left Paris at 9:15 this a.m. and went to Gisors. Thence we drove to Eragny and saw old Pissarro, who is a noble-looking fellow with a beak on him like an eagle and an eye like Sophocles . . . As Monet told me [he] was a most charming and simple soul, with enormous interest in his work. A fine old fellow. He is as simple as a child . . . We spent some time and saw much of his work and bought a mighty pretty watercolour, a real masterpiece."

Pissarro hastened to follow up their visit with a little note requesting another meeting at Lilla's convenience. Thus began a very warm friendship. Deeply affected by Pissarro's impoverished state, Lilla actively tried to stimulate a few sales for him, arranging for private teas in Paris with collector friends, like the Quincy Shaws, and alerting correspondents in America. 

The response was largely negative, as Pissarro sadly confirmed to his son in the spring of 1896. 'Mrs. Perry hasn't been able to place a single painting for me so far, really the Americans can't get used to my painting which is too sad for them. Monet alone is recognized in America.' The following spring Lilla finally managed to arrange for a small sale of six watercolors by Pissarro to her brother Arthur Cabot.

The Perrys returned to Boston in July 1897. Thomas Perry expressed his sadness, 'All is ending. We are dying to slow music. The day is over; twilight is beginning.' All, of course, was not ending, but they would never see one beloved friend again. Pissarro died in 1903, two years before the Perrys returned to France."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)

Lilla Cabot Perry: Working at Giverny

 

"At the River's Head (On the River, II)" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"Claude Monet welcomed Thomas and Lilla Perry warmly when they resettled in Giverny early in June 1894, and they were delighted to be back.  For Lilla, living at Giverny inspired her to paint what she loved most - landscapes. She never tired of the infinite variety of views of the village and surrounding countryside, bathed in the soft, ever-changing light. 

Two of her loveliest landscapes from the summers of the mid-1890s depict a row of poplar trees. Clearly inspired by Monet's famous series, 'Poplars,' these paintings nevertheless present her at her best. Chromatic spots of color capture the effect of sunlight through the shimmering leaves of the trees, softly contrasted with variegated stripes of light pink and pale green evoking the surrounding fields. 

She also painted a considerable number of plein-air figures in Giverny and interior genre scenes. 'At the River's Head [Edith Perry],' exemplifies Perry's personal interpretation of Impressionism, which borrows from both Monet and Old Master sources. In this two-part composition the background is composed of reflections on the river Epte, where vibrant greens and golden hues loosely weave together to create a tapestry effect. Framed by this 'modern' background, Lilla places a portrait of her daughter Edith, also painted in muted tones delicately applied in the Impressionist manner, and upon whose gaze Lilla focused first and foremost.

Her husband wrote that 'Monet came in yesterday p.m. & looked at Lilla's pictures. He gave one of the highest praises he ever gave anything, 'pas mal' ['not bad'], & she feels highly flattered. He was very encouraging.' Her paintings were regularly exhibited at the new Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts of which Puvis de Chavannes was president. Puvis considered her art 'very original, of charming colour and very delicate.' 

Lilla also immensely admired Camille Pissarro. Eragny, where Pissarro lived, was within cycling distance of Giverny, and the Perry were most anxious to meet him, which they did in October of 1894." But more of that tomorrow..."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.) 

Lilla Cabot Perry: Promoting Impressionism

"Light and Reflection (Edith Perry)"
by Lilla Cabot Perry

"A radical transformation in Lilla Cabot Perry's style took place during that first summer at Giverny. She started employing the Impressionist broken-color technique, applying bright pigments directly onto her canvas. It was a beginning of a seesaw battle. Sometimes russet brown hues and chiaroscuro effects evoked the Old Masters of Italy far more than the French so-called 'avant-garde.' At other times loose brushwork with strong contours and the influence of Monet's approach were most manifest.

The Perrys also purchased a number of the Impressionists' paintings which they brought home with them later that year and began to champion their work. Conservative Bostonians showed little enthusiasm for Monet's view of Etretat which the Perrys gifted to Thomas' brother-in-law, William Pepper. Pepper himself was delighted and commissioned a second Monet in 1891. The Perrys also brought back a collection of John Breck's vibrant landscapes which were privately exhibited at their residence that winter. Prospective patrons were unimpressed, but Lilla was determined to foster this 'new truth' in painting. Several colleagues from Boston's art museum also helped her organize the first public exhibition of Breck's landscapes in November 1890 at the prestigious St. Botolph Club.

After another brief stint in France, their green and gold salon once again became the meeting ground where 'the Crowned heads of Boston,' as Philip Hale called them, were confronted with Giverny's 'thirst' for more light. Lilla helped organize a joint show for 'the two Theodores' - Robinson and Wendel - at the Williams and Everett Gallery in Boston.  In spite of excellent reviews of Robinson's work in the press, however, Perry later recalled that she was the only person who purchased one of his paintings. Later, pictures of his sold from five to fifty thousand dollars. Monet's exhibition that same spring attracted more attention, though conservative Boston remained reticent in accepting his work.

Two events at the end of January 1894 indicate that a small but influential circle in Boston actively promoted the new movement. The first was Lillas' lecture on Monet and his methods at the Boston Art Students' Association. The second was the group exhibition of Impressionism at the St. Botolph Club, considered 'epoch making' by the local press. The 'leading local artists...of the new guild' featured in the show were Tarbell, Hale, Wendel, Vinton, Dawson-Watson and Mrs. L. C. Perry.' Could it be that the tide was turning?"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)

Lilla Cabot Perry: Summers in Giverny

"Haystacks, Giverney" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"Paris was 'abominably full' in the spring of 1889 as thousands of tourists swarmed into the city daily to admire A.G. Eiffel's famous tower and other 'bonanzas' that were part of the Paris Exposition. There were no crowds, however, when the Perrys entered Georges Petit's gallery where one hundred and forty-five 'impressions' from Claude Monet's brush were presented. This exhibition proved to be the revelation of Lilla Cabot Perry's career. It sparked the Perrys' decision to take up residence that summer in Giverny, where Monet recorded sunlight and air and all the transient atmosphere which enveloped the lovely Normandy landscape.

Eighty years later, the memories of that first summer at Giverny were still vivid for Lilla's daughter Margaret Perry, who described in detail the family's first little house 'next to the blacksmith's,' recalling that it had 'no conveniences.' She also confirmed that the family took their meals at the Hotel Baudy, which was filled with American painters. Behind the house was a field across which was Monet's place. In the field were the haystacks made famous by him.'

Theodore Robinson, John Breck and Theodore Butler headed a small colony of artists at Giverny, mostly Americans, who had already discovered the master of French Impressionism and 'were camping on his trail.' Of all the Americans, however, it was the Perrys who developed the closest friendship with Monet during the nine summers they were to spend in Giverny over a twenty-year period from 1889 to 1909. Lilla's own reminiscences about this time in her life, in the form of an informal talk, were first recorded in 1894 and then expanded in 1927, after Monet's death. They provide invaluable insight concerning, in her estimation, 'the worlds greatest landscape artist.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.) 

Lilla Cabot Perry: Paris and the European Scene

"Girl Reading Book" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"Once settled in Paris by the winter of 1887, Lilla Cabot Perry first enrolled not at Julian's, but at the rival Academie Colarossi. As one might expect of any woman artist with three small children in tow, her attendance at classes was somewhat sporadic. Additionally, travel occupied much of the Perrys' time. Prior to settling in Paris, they spent a month touring the churches and galleries in London and the neighboring countryside. They then proceeded on a six-week tour of Spain, where Lilla spent hours working in the Prado. Her husband recorded her progress in his diaries: 

'At 1 p.m., Lilla gets permission to copy and begins on a little prince of Velasquez. She gets additional hours - painted the Prince C. head, and the head of Prince Ferdinand. Began the so-called Sibyl of Ribera and Titian's Mater Dolorosa.'

In spring of 1888 the Perrys marveled at the splendor of Florence and Venice.

In August, probably at the suggestion of artist and mentor Walter Gay, she and her family went to Munich, where she studied for two months with the German social realist Fritz von Uhde. Once acclaimed, now forgotten, von Uhde certainly merits special mention here because of his influence on her handling of certain subjects and the use of color. Uhde's portraits of child had special appeal for her. Furthermore, he appears to have been the first person to speak to her of the charms of Giverny.

The family returned to Paris from Munich in the fall of 1888, where she switched to the Academie Julian studying under Tony Robert-Fleury. She may have even been in the same class with Cecilia Beaux! It was at that time she completed her husband's portrait, and was encouraged to submit it to the prestigious Salon de la Societe des Artistes Francais of 1889, along with a portrait of her second daughter, Edith. To Lilla's utter surprise and delight, both paintings were accepted and her career took wings.

With renewed confidence, Lilla was admitted to Alfred Stevens' select Paris studio for ladies (no more than fifteen per class) during the second week in May 1889. Stevens was by then well past his prime, but his reputation as a master of elegant interiors featuring genteel ladies was still intact. These compositions - forerunners of the Boston School of painting - were certainly far more appealing to her than the mass productions that poured forth from Julian's over-crowded life classes."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)

Lilla Cabot Perry: Artistic Training

"The Young Violincellist" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"The earliest known painting by Lilla Cabot Perry is a small oil portrait of her daughter Margaret. There is no extant documentation, however, that indicates Lilla ever received any formal instruction prior to 1884 when she was thirty-six years old. Presumably her skills were self-taught, resulting from close observation of family and friends, complemented by frequent visits to both the Boston Athenaeum and the Art Museum. Another source of inspiration was was the exceptional collection owned by the Perrys' close friend Quincy Shaw. As Thomas Perry recalled to a friend years later:

'Mr. Shaw you know was one of Millet's early admirers and had more of Millet's pictures than one finds elsewhere under one roof. Besides the Millets, he had many capital Italian pictures.'

In the summer of 1884 Lilla received her first professional critiques from Alfred Quentin Collins, a portrait painter, who had studied in Paris at the Academie Julian. There is a similarity between Lilla's portrait of her daughter Margaret with her violin, titled 'The Beginner' and Collins' own portrait of young Alexander Wetherill. Just how long she continued with him is unclear. 

By 1885 she had engaged a new critic. 'Mr. Vonnoh, head teacher at the Art Museum, comes two mornings a week to criticize,' she wrote a friend. Robert Vonnoh was another product of Julian's. His portrait of John Severinus Conway, which was exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon in 1883, launched his career as a portrait painter in Boston. Lilla joyfully wrote as she studied with him: 'I am hard at work at painting. I feel that I am improving fast and that is a delightful feeling! I told Tom the other day that he must not feel offended if I said that I had not been so happy since I was a girl at school!' 

Her excitement continued when husband Thomas announced his decision to join his close friend and colleague William Dean Howells in Paris, to which both men would take their families for a two-year sojourn. Lilla looked forward to studying painting there. To prepare herself she immediately enrolled in painting classes at the Cowles Art School under Dennis Miller Bunker.

Perry herself was extremely impressed by Bunker, whose 'power of drawing' she wrote, 'is amazing!' She had chosen her instructors wisely from the new crop of young realists temporarily on the Boston scene. Collins, Vonnoh and Bunker represented three exceptional portraitists, all trained in Paris at the Academie Julian. All of them reacted strongly against the insipid 'candy-box' images which covered America's walls 'as much like good pictures as 'Mary had a little lamb' or 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star' are like good poetry,' to quote Thomas Perry's cynical appraisal of many American paintings of the day. 

She was up for the challenge and relished all of the instruction, saying: 'I enjoy it very much, partly because it is so difficult.' Study and life in Paris would be wonderful!"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.) 

Lilla Cabot Perry: Marriage

"Thomas Perry" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"In the years preceding Lilla Cabot's marriage to Thomas Perry, the author Henry James described him thusly: ' 

[Thomas Perry] had let himself loose in the world of books, pressed and roamed through the most various literatures and the most voluminous authors, with a stride that, as it carried him beyond all view, left me dismayed and helpless at the edge of the forest, where I listened wistfully... to the far-off crash from within of his felled timber, the clearing of whole spaces or periods shelf by shelf or great tree by tree.'

A brilliant scholar and linguist, Thomas graduated from Harvard in 1866 and then embarked on the 'grand tour' of Europe. He returned to Boston in the late summer of 1868 to take teaching position at Harvard that fall. According to his biographer, he was introduced to 'Miss [Lilla] Cabot shortly thereafter. It was not until 1871, however, that their correspondence takes on a tone of courtship, which culminated three years later in a quiet wedding at Lilla's family residence in Boston on April 9, 1874. 

Although the marriage united two families of impeccable lineage and proved to be extremely close, it was not one that had joined two fortunes. After a very brief teaching career at Harvard came to an abrupt end, Thomas Perry contributed a voluminous amount of literary criticism to 'Atlantic Monthly' and other periodicals. He also edited several major anthologies of literature which were acclaimed by critics but sadly ignored by the public. 

Following her father's death in 1885, Lilla's inheritance provided a modest income for her family which then included her husband and three daughters - Margaret, Edith and Alice, born respectively in 1876, 1880 and 1884. As the years went by the inheritance dwindled. More and more the family also relied on the income from Perry's paintings."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)

Lilla Cabot Perry: An Introduction

"Reading" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"Lilla Cabot Perry was born in Boston on January 13, 1848. She was the oldest of eight children in the family of the distinguished surgeon Dr. Samuel Cabot and his wife, Anna Lowell Jackson Cabot. Simple living, 'high thinking' and service to others - such were the principles that the Cabots taught their children at an early age. Books and sports were favorite pastimes pursued outside of school hours. Perry's childhood memories also included the host of literary giants who poured into the family's front parlor on Park Square. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott played 'fox and geese' with the Cabot children, for example, and James Russell Lowell was an intimate member of the family circle.

Lilla was thirteen years of age when the first shots at Fort Sumter were fired, which announced a turning point in American history. Ardent abolitionists, both Samuel and Hannah Cabot took an active part in the Civil War, assisting the ill and wounded and offering refuge to runaway slaves. Caring for those in need was a Cabot commitment which Lilla exhibited all her life.

The war ended when Lilla was seventeen. That same year her father purchased a farm called Cherry Hill in nearby Canton, Massachusetts, where, as she later remembered, the family 'lived very close to the beauties of nature... From our house on top of the hill, the countryside spread out all around like the large patchwork quilt on my grandmother's bed. Already I had a longing to paint.'

Perry was an exceptional student, however, and there were other calls as well as art - literature and languages, poetry and music - which she pursued with a passion far extending the classroom walls. Beethoven brought tears, as did certain lines from Keats or Shelley. For Lilla and her very select friends, who included Helen Bell and Henry James, the metropolis provided a stimulating and congenial atmosphere."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)

Alfred Stevens: A Grand Finale

"Autumn Flowers" by Alfred Stevens

"In 1890, Albert Stevens joined the group which left the traditional Salon to show separately at the Champs de Mars, calling themselves the Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts. He had eleven paintings represented. In September 1890, the first of a series of blows fell upon Stevens. His beloved brother, Arthur, died. Only six months later, Marie Stevens, his wife of over thirty years, passed away, and the following year, Joseph, his elder brother was also lost to him. 

The final blow was of a different nature - a lack of money. The latter problem preyed on the mind of a bereaved and lonely man. The story is all too familiar. Stevens had little idea of money or accounts, and spent his money freely in the firm belief that he could always paint another picture and replace it. His letters to his children are pitiful but nothing prevented his painting well. 

Having been unable to exhibit in the previous year's Salon, he had now sixteen paintings on display and enjoyed having his son Leopold's work on show with his. He had a successful exhibition in Brussels the following year in 1895, and tried to paint himself out of debt. In doing so the quality sometimes suffered, but to the end, he could pull himself together and paint fine paintings when he had a mind to. 

In 1899, he fell by accident, failed to recover properly and was confined to a wheelchair. There could have been a sad ending to the life of this fine artist. However, his friends rallied round and wrote to the authorities asking for a retrospective exhibition for him at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. This honor had never been awarded to a living artist but the Minister granted the request. We can imagine the joy for Stevens of being wheeled around the exhibition of over a hundred and eighty of his paintings, among them several masterpieces which he would have not seen for years. 

He died in 1906 and was given a grand funeral and endless obituaries in the press, but I think we should leave him being pushed around in his chair, fussed over by the Dame Patronesses. After all, they were elegant ladies, the inspiration and passion of Alfred Stevens."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Paul Mitchell.)

Alfred Stevens: Panorama of the Century

Alfred Stevens, “A Portrait of Parisian Celebrities”
from “Panorama of the Century,” 1889

"In the late 1880's, Alfred Stevens embarked on a project that only a man of his energy would undertake in his mid-sixties. The idea came from his friend Henri Gervex, and both Alfred and his brother Arthur put up capital together with others to paint a 'Panorama of the Century' to be exhibited in the Tuileries Gardens during the Exposition Universelle of 1889. The subject was a commemoration of one hundred years of French history from the Revolution of 1789 to the present day, in the form of portraits of all notable figures standing in imaginary, elaborate architectural settings based in the Tuileries where the Rotunda would be erected. 

The idea of a panorama was not new, of course, but the artists wanted to make accurate portraits of the celebrities included, whether live or from research into surviving likenesses in the case of the deceased. It would be nothing less than a pageant of the century.

Gradually the project took shape and a team of assistants was assembled, including Alfred's oldest son, Leopold. As anticipated months of research were needed and much time was spent in libraries. The transfer to the 120-meter long canvas meant that each drawing had to be enlarged to eight times the original. The outline was then pricked through in the time-honored method of the Italian fresco painters. When powder was applied to the holes it duplicated the outline on the canvas. Prominent scenes from each reign had been chosen and the team set to work amidst 'a disorderly array of stuffs, uniforms, helmets, and objects of all kinds, the bric-a-brac of a century.'

When it was completed, the visitor to the circular temporary structure could, upon purchase of a one franc ticket, walk round from Louis XVI to Napoleon III and beyond into the present day of the Third Republic. Many people of the day had tried to get themselves included offering substantial sums for the privilege. The President of France, Sadi Carnot, came and sat for his likeness and the public saw him at the end of the canvas whilst Marie-Antoinette was on the opposite end at the beginning of the hundred years.

Alas, their careful planning did not include what was to happen to the Panorama after the Exposition Universelle was over. The canvas was eventually cut up and dispersed, in one case, as far away as Florida. We do not know if this project was a successful venture or even whether the investors recovered their investments. What we do know is that it was an astonishing achievement by the two friends and their helpers."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Paul Mitchell.)

Alfred Stevens: "Impressions on Painting"

"An Artist in his Studio" by Alfred Stevens

"Alfred Stevens busied himself in writing his thoughts on painting which were published under the title of 'Impressions sur la Peinture [Impressions on Painting]' in 1886. Knowing how reluctant publishers are to risk their money, the fact that this little book came out in separate French, English and American editions is proof of its success and, no doubt, its influence. Because 'Impressions' is simply a collection of sentences, it is easily read but the meaning repays thought. Of course, there are moments when he is simply reflecting his own natural gifts, but they are valuable and reflect his total belief in painting 'modern life' which he saw around him."

A few observations from his book:

• "The student should learn to draw, as much as possible, with his brush."
• "A painter is only great when he is a master workman."
• "A painter, however mediocre, who has depicted the era in which he lives will become more interesting in time than he who, having more talent, portrays an epoch he has never seen."
• "It is not necessary to go to the East to look for light and for picturesque motives. To the penetrating painter everything everywhere is beautiful."
• "The more beautiful and distingue the subject, the more difficult it is to paint."
• "There should be no haste in the erection of a statue to a man. Neither should we hasten to introduce our masters into the Louvre. Time alone is an infallible classifier."
• "A painter is constantly at work, even outside of his studio."
• "The more one knows, the more one simplifies."
• "A man's hand has the same expression as his face."
• "Painters who, in spite of their talent, no longer make use of nature, disquiet me as to their future."
• "In painting, it is an art to know when to stop."
• "If one has unexpectedly done well, he may attribute his success to the effect of his previous study."
• "In a portrait, it is better to let the sitter take an habitual pose than to strive for effect by an unusual one."
• "The moon beautifies everything. It lends accent to sterile landscapes that the sun itself is powerless to animate, because it suppresses details and gives value only to the mass."
• "There is no artist's studio, even a mediocre one, in which a study may not be found superior to his finished works."
• "People have a sad tendency to run after the qualities of their neighbors and to neglect those with which they themselves are endowed." 
• "The masters have not always produced masterpieces. Happy he who, in our day, shall be able to leave behind him a fine bit of painting!"

The book in its entirety: https://archive.org/details/impressionsonpai00stev/mode/2up

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Paul Mitchell.) 

Alfred Stevens: The Sea

"Female Painter by Edge of the Sea" by Alfred Stevens

"Two events happened in 1880 in the life of Alfred Stevens. Firstly, the Paris authorities made a compulsory purchase of his house and demolished it to make a new road and passageway, which they named after the artist. This was not the only compensation. He was paid 300,000 francs as well. Secondly, he developed bronchial problems and was told to go to the seaside for some fresh air, instead of breathing in the turpentine fumes in the studio.

Stevens duly went off to Sainte Adresse for two months and took to painting the sea. The great dealer, Georges Petit, must have felt that an artist as good as Stevens could paint anything he chose to paint, and duly made a contract with him to take everything he painted in the two-month stay for 50,000 francs! It was a bold decision but a sound one because it would allow people without the resources of Vanderbilt or King Leopold to own a good painting with a famous signature.

Stevens embraced the sea as readily as he had embraced the subject of women. It was another inexhaustible theme - the sea and shore from calm to storm, with or without beaches, bathers, headlands, fishermen and seagulls. To a painter of cashmere shawls and undulating silk fabrics, Stevens was acutely aware of every nuance of color, sea, sky and shore presented him with. 

Of course, he soon realized the potential of combining his two subjects. We find ladies at the beach and, often, single figures stand at the water's edge looking with longing for the return of a vessel bearing their loved one. His routine took him to the Channel coast in summer and the Riviera in winter."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Paul Mitchell.)

Alfred Stevens: Circles of Success

"Palm Sunday" by Alfred Stevens

"We can readily imagine Alfred Stevens attending the Emperor's receptions at the Tuileries or Compiegne, and holding his own among the celebrities in the Salon of Princesse Mathilde. This lively daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte's youngest brother, Jerome, married Prince Demidov, a patron of the arts. Stevens was given the freedom of Mathilde's wardrobe to borrow clothes for his models.

Her Salon was perhaps the brightest star in the firmament of the world's capital of the arts, letter, savoir-vivre, a magnet to so many from all across the civilized world. Stevens could meet there with the Dumas, father and son, Gautier, Flaubert, Arsene Houssaye, the director of the Comedie Francaise, Taine, the famous philosopher, Gounod, still renowned for his opera 'Faust,' and many more - the list is too long! None of these famous names could have imagined, nor, of course, anyone else, that one day twenty years into the future they would be portrayed by the painter they met in an extraordinary undertaking called 'Le Panorame du Siecle.'

At this time Stevens was a vigorous man in his late forties eager to get on with life and painting which were, for him, synonymous. By this time, he had acquired a large house and garden at 65 Rue des Martyrs, in the 9th arrondissement, which impressed every visitor. The garden was the setting for Manet's 'Croquet Party,' while the drawing room became the setting for some of his best-known paintings. 'Ready for the Fancy Dress Ball,' set in the house's Chinese boudoir, was commissioned by William Vanderbilt senior in 1879. 

The following year Vanderbilt's son visited Stevens. Having looked at several works only to be told they were sold or belonged to a dealer, he asked Stevens about the 'Salon du Peintre' and the reply was, 'That belongs to me.' 'How much?' '50,000 francs.' 'Then it is no longer yours, Mr. Stevens, it is mine!'" The artist's audacity in asking such a huge price was typical of the self-confidence of Stevens. However, another painting 'Les Visiteuses' had already been sold for 50,000 francs to King Leopold. 1878 had been a triumph for Stevens with fifteen exhibits, a first class medal, and a promotion to Commander of the Legion of Honour."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Paul Mitchell.) 

Alfred Stevens: The Exposition Universelle

"A Duchess (The Blue Dress)" by Alfred Stevens

"We must backtrack to 1867 to emphasize that the Exposition Universelle was a personal triumph for Alfred Stevens. The fact that he was allocated a display of eighteen works, spanning his career to date, turned the event into a retrospective exhibition for him. Along with 'Tous les Bonheurs' and 'La Dame en Rose,' was a painting called 'La Duchesse,' also entitled the 'Blue Dress,' now at the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The subject of 'Letters' was an inexhaustible source of inspiration. 

These works remind us why Stevens was so often compared to the Dutch seventeenth masters and called 'the Terborch of France.' It was noted that Stevens, unlike many genre painters never became laborious in handling detail and found in his small-scale scenes 'the breadth of technique one would expect in a painting of larger dimensions.' As with the earlier masters, the subject was merely a pretext for painting, and an inexhaustible one. His natural taste was superb and allowed him to tell stories with the most subtle nuances that draw the onlooker into the rich and sophisticated world of the Second Empire. He instinctively knew the boundary between what is elegant and chic and what is commonplace.

Success brought celebrity and an entree into the heady society so that he could hold to the maxim of 'paint the life that you lead.' Fortunately he had all the physical attributes he could wish for together with wit and charm, and was more or less irresistible to ladies, whom he adored. What fascinated the ladies was the knowledge that underneath was a passionate zest for living and painting. He said that a painter is always at work even when he is away from his studio and apparently doing nothing."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens' by Paul Mitchell."

Alfred Stevens: Impressionist Associations

"The Parisian Sphinx" by Alfred Stevens

"The friendship between Alfred Stevens and Edouard Manet strengthened in the decade of the 1860's. Their relationship was one of mutual respect and admiration. A letter of Manet's survives in which he wrote, 'Yesterday I saw at Hoschede's a superb Stevens, please pass on to him my sincere compliments.' At the Thursday evening gatherings at Madame Auguste Manet's, Stevens regularly met Degas, the mercurial Baudelaire and the Morisot sisters. 

Manet used Stevens' studio to paint Spanish dancers from the Hippodrome. We do not know why Stevens failed to accompany Manet, as planned, on a journey to Spain, but he did not fail his friend later on in 1871, with a more important matter. (We must keep reminding ourselves, of course, that Manet had not yet 'arrived' by any means). Manet asked Stevens if he could leave some of his work in the Stevens studio so that it might be seen by Durand-Ruel, on one of his visits. The great dealer duly came by and, with characteristic foresight, bought the Manets. 

Stevens, Degas and the Manet brothers were together in refusing to leave during the Franco-Prussian War, including the Prussian siege of Paris in 1870. Stevens, of course, as a foreigner from Belgium, did not have to serve in the French forces, but he insisted in volunteering and this was never forgotten by the French authorities. Stevens sent his wife Marie and family to Brussels, writing to her by balloon, and kept his mother with him in Paris.

The fact that the siege did not prevent his painting will hardly surprise the reader. It is difficult to imagine what could have done so! Victorine Meurent, a model shared by Manet and Stevens, appears in 'The Parisian Sphinx' in one of the most ravishing of Stevens' small canvases painted during this time. Later on when Manet died in 1883, Stevens was one of the pallbearers and on a committee to campaign for the exhibition and sale of his work."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Peter Mitchell.)

Alfred Stevens: Chevalier of the Legion of Honor

"The Artist and His Model" by Alfred Stevens

"In 1861 the jury for the Paris Salon wanted to award Alfred Stevens a medal of honor. Robert-Fleury went to see Stevens unofficially and told him that his subject matter was not worthy of his talents and that if he would change his genre they would award him with the medal. His reply was brief and to the point: 'You keep your medal and I'll keep my genre.' At this Salon a critic, Leon Lagrange, described his paintings as 'les poemes intimes d'Alfred Stevens' ['the intimate poems of Alfred Stevens'], an excellent and much quoted phrase. 

1863 saw the end of officialdom's hesitation - Stevens became Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. What would have pleased the artist above all were the words of the minister, Walewski, at the presentation - 'To gain an honor with the complete approval of your colleagues is to deserve it twice over.' The Belgian public shared, of course, the success of Stevens first hand and from events like the Brussels Salon of 1866 where 'La Dame en Rose' (bought by the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts) and 'La Visite' were exhibited. The latter was bought by King Leopold. There was no greater recommendation than that of royal patronage.

The aristocracy and the haute bourgeoisie followed their monarch's example. Alfred received a letter from his family telling him of the King's strong admiration for him and his wish for Alfred to remain Belgian. At a later date he even forbid Stevens to accept French citizenship. The tug of war went on right up to his funeral in 1906, when the Belgian Ambassador concluded his eulogy thus, 'France will keep your ashes and Belgium your immortality."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Peter Mitchell.)

Alfred Stevens: Japonisme and Family

"The Visit" by Alfred Stevens

"The arrival of Japanese prints in Paris, perhaps in 1856, led to an interest - or rather a rage - for Japanese art and artifacts of every kind. With Bracquemond and Whistler, Stevens and Degas were among the first enthusiasts and collectors. Stevens spent lavishly as we see from the quantities of screens, porcelain wall coverings, bibelots, paper parasols, lamps, kimonos and the like, which provided the artist with a mosaic of exotic and sophisticated colors in many of his interiors. However much Stevens enjoyed 'le Japonisme', his own work was not as influenced by Japanese art as was that of his friend Whistler.

One of his most famous Japonisme-influenced works is ' La Parisienne Japonaise' (1872). He realized several portraits of young women dressed in kimonos, and Japanese elements feature in many other paintings of his, such as the early 'La Dame en Rose' (1866), which combines a view of a fashionably dressed woman in an interior with a detailed examination of Japanese objects, and 'The Psyche' (1871), wherein on a chair there sit Japanese prints, indicating his artistic passion.*

The following year, feeling confident of his art and his future, Stevens married Marie Blanc, granddaughter of General Sausset. The witnesses to their marriage tell us something of the progress Stevens was making in the artistic and literary  mlieux of Paris - Eugene Delacroix, Alexandre Dumas fils, Florent Willems and Bayard de la Vingtrie. Just as Alfred had been one of four children, so he and Marie would have four. Just as Marie had already appeared as a model and would continue to do in some of the major works of the 1860's, so the children would begin to appear in their turn."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Peter Mitchell.)
* Paragraph from: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Japonisme

Alfred Stevens: First Success

"La Visite" by Alfred Stevens

"In 1844, Alfred Stevens left for Paris in the care of a family friend, the painter Camille Roqueplan. Poor health obliged Roqueplan to go to the South of France and Stevens entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the only pupil of Roqueplan's to be admitted. Five years later found him sharing a studio with another Belgian born painter, Florent Willems, well established in Paris. 

On Stevens' debut at the Paris Salon in 1853, he showed three paintings, one of which was 'The Morning of Ash Wednesday.' The reader would be pressed to recognize this painting as the work of Stevens when compared to his work later on. At that time artists were caught up in a swirling current of change from traditional to 'modern' painting. What impressed the Jury, consisting of painters, was that the debutant's canvas was well painted. They well understood the soundness of his technique. It has been constantly repeated that Stevens was a painter's painter and indeed he was.

Thus 'Ash Wednesday' won official blessing and was bought by the government for the Marseilles Museum and Stevens won a third class medal - the first of a chestful - but he had not yet found his vocation. However, in 1854-55, he exhibited three paintings in Brussels and Antwerp whose titles, 'La Sieste,' 'Reverie' and 'Chez Soi' tell us that it was a turning point in the search for his true subject. In 1857, he finally found his subject - in a word 'La Femme.'A painting entitled 'La Visite', the first of many, many variations of this very adaptable subject down through his career. 

His painting 'Artist in His Studio' was also a break-through and the first of a series of very important works where the studio is the setting, and Stevens could either depict himself as present or not, and vary the quantity of ladies, whether models or visitors. For example in 'La Psyche,' the model is alone in the studio amused by her reflection in the mirror. Only a cigarette butt and a used match, in the right foreground, remind us of the momentarily absent master. Incidentally 'La Psyche' belonged to the Comte Robert de Montesquiou, the poet and aesthete immortalized by Whistler."

To be continued

(From "Alfred Stevens" by Peter Mitchell.)

Alfred Stevens: Beginnings

"The Japanese Robe" by Alfred Stevens

"Alfred Emile Leopold Victor Ghislain Stevens was born in Brussels on May 11th, 1823. He father, a soldier, had been an aide to Prince William of the Netherlands at Waterloo. He was a keen if modest collector and dealer in paintings and drawings, and justly proud of his Delacroix watercolours. Alfred was one of four children. His sister Juliette died in childhood; his eldest brother Joseph became a successful animal painter, and his younger brother Arthur was destined to be an important art critic, dealer, agent and curator of the collection of the Belgian King, Leopold II.

Alfred did not make his public debut as an artist until the Brussels Salon of 1851 at the age of twenty-eight. Why so late? What we know for certain is that he was a student at the Bruxelles Academy under the tutelage of Navez, a faithful disciple of David during his exile in Brussels. He underwent a thorough, traditional training, with the emphasis strictly on drawing, so much so that oil painting was forbidden to students.

Nonetheless, in the absence of his teacher, Stevens got hold of palette and brush and painted an ideal head in oils. Navez returned and demanded to know 'the artist' who flouted the studio rules. Alfred was marched off by Navez to see his grandfather. With the teenager standing before his grandfather, Navez exclaimed, 'You have there a fine painter!' 

This oft-quoted event is important because it tells us, right at the onset, a fundamental truth about Stevens. He understood the need to study and to train hand and eye in the technique of draughtsmanship and painting. Forty years later, he would publish his thoughts on art 'Impressions sur la peinture,' and there we find, well to the front, 'You can only be a great painter if you are a master craftsman.' He enjoyed the physical act of painting, as a gardener enjoys the feel of fine soil in the hands, or a sculptor his clay."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Alfred Stevens" by Peter Mitchell.)