Alfred Stevens: A Grand Finale

"The Japanese Mask" by Alfred Stevens

"In 1890 Alfred 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 exhibits. In September of that year the first of a series of blows fell upon him. 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.

Stevens, in common with so many artists, had 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. The 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's work on show with his. He had a successful exhibition in Brussels at La Maison d'Art the following year. He tried to paint himself out of debt and 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. This could have been a sad ending for Stevens, but his friends rallied round and wrote to the authorities asking for a retrospective exhibition for him at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. This honour 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. He died in 1906 and was given a grand funeral and endless obituaries in the press."

To be continued

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