Vigee Lebrun: Growing Pains

"Self-Portrait In Traveling Costume"
by Elizabeth Louise Vigee Lebrun

 

French artist Vigee Lebrun continues the story of her childhood in her autobiography, "Memoirs of Madame Vigee Lebrun":

I had spent one happy year at home when my father fell ill. After two months of suffering all hope of his recovery was abandoned. When he felt his last moments approaching, he declared a wish to see my brother and myself. We went close to his bedside, weeping bitterly. His face was terribly altered; his eyes and his features, usually so full of animation, were quite without expression, for the pallor and the chill of death were already upon him. We took his icy hand and covered it with kisses and tears. He made a last effort and sat up to give us his blessing. "Be happy, my children," was all he said. An hour later our poor father had ceased to live.

So heartbroken was I that it was long before I felt able to take to my crayons again. Doyen came to see us sometimes, and as he had been my father's best friend his visits were a great consolation. He it was who urged me to resume the occupation I loved, and in which, to speak truth, I found the only solace for my woe. It was then that I began to paint from nature. I accomplished several portraits – pastels and oils. I also drew from nature and from casts, often working by lamplight with Mlle. Boquet, with whom I was closely acquainted. I went to her house in the evenings; she lived in the Rue Saint Denis, where her father had a bric-à-brac shop. It was a long way off, since we lodged in the Rue de Cléry, opposite the Lubert mansion. My mother, therefore, insisted on my being escorted whenever I went. We likewise frequently repaired, Mlle. Boquet and I, to Briard's, a painter, who lent us his etchings and his classical busts. Briard was but a moderate painter, although he did some ceilings of rather unusual conception. On the other hand, he could draw admirably, which was the reason why several young people went to him for lessons. His rooms were in the Louvre, and each of us brought her little dinner, carried in a basket by a nurse, in order that we might make a long day of it.

Mlle. Boquet was fifteen years old and I fourteen. We were rival beauties. I had changed completely and had become good looking. Her artistic abilities were considerable; as for mine, I made such speedy progress that I soon was talked about, and this resulted in my making the gratifying acquaintance of Joseph Vernet. That famous painter gave me cordial encouragement and much invaluable advice. I also got to know the Abbé Arnault, of the French Academy. He was a man of strong imaginative gifts, with a passion for literature and the arts. His conversation enriched me with ideas, if I may thus express myself. He would talk of music and painting with the most inspiring ardour. The Abbé was a warm partisan of Gluck, and at a later date brought the great composer to see me, for I, too, was passionately fond of music.

My mother was now proud of my face and figure; I was growing stouter, and presented the fresh appearance proper to youth. On Sundays she took me to the Tuileries. She was still handsome herself, and after the lapse of all these years I am free to confess that the manner in which we were so often followed by men embarrassed more than it flattered me. Seeing me so irremediably affected by our cruel loss, my mother deemed it best to take me out of myself by showing me pictures. Thus we went to the Luxembourg Palace, the gallery of which then contained some of Rubens's masterpieces, as well as numerous works by the greatest painters. At present nothing is to be seen there but pictures of the modern French school. I am the only painter of that class not represented. The old masters have since been removed to the Louvre. Rubens has lost much by the change: the difference between well or badly lighted pictures is the same as between well or badly played pieces of music.

We also saw some rich private collections, none of which, however, equalled that of the Palais Royal, made by the Regent and containing a conspicuous number of old Italian masters. As soon as I entered one of these galleries I at once became exactly like a bee, so much useful knowledge did I eagerly gather while intoxicated with bliss in the contemplation of the great masters. Besides, in order to improve myself, I copied some of the pictures of Rubens, some of Rembrandt's and Van Dyck's heads, as well as several heads of girls by Greuze, because these last were a good lesson to me in the demi-tints to be found in delicate flesh colouring. Van Dyck shows them also, but more finely. It is to these studies that I owe my improvement in the very important science of degradation of light on the salient parts of a head, so admirably done by Raphael, whose heads, it is true, combine all the perfections. But it is only in Rome, under the bright Italian sky, that Raphael can be properly judged. When, after years, I was enabled to see some of his masterpieces, which had never left their native home, I recognised Raphael to be above his high renown. 

To be continued

Vigee Lebrun: Family Matters

"Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Madame Le Sèvre,
née Jeanne Maissin" by Vigee Lebrun

Excerpts from the autobiography "Memoirs of Madame Vigee Lebrun," the French portraitist:

"My mother was an extremely handsome woman. This may be judged from the pastel portrait made of her by my father, as well as from my own oil painting of a much later date. She carried her goodness to austerity, and my father worshipped her as though she had been divine. She was very pious, and, in heart, I was so, too. We always heard high mass together, and were regular attendants at the other church services. Especially in Lent did we never omit any of the prescribed devotions, evening prayer not excepted. I have always liked sacred singing, and in those days organ music would often move me to tears.

My father was in the habit of inviting various artists and men of letters to his house of an evening. At the head of them I must place Doyen, the historical painter, my father's most intimate and my first friend. Doyen was the nicest man in the world, so clever and so good; his views on persons and things were always exceedingly just, and moreover he talked about painting with such fervent enthusiasm that it made my heart beat fast to listen to him. 

Though nothing more than a child, the jollity of these suppers was a great source of pleasure to me. I was obliged to leave the table before dessert, but from my room I heard the laughter and the joking and the songs. These, I confess, I did not understand; nevertheless, they helped to make my holidays delightful. At eleven I left the boarding-school for good, after my first communion. Davesne, who painted in oils, sent his wife for me to teach me how to mix colours. Their poverty grieved me deeply. One day, when I wanted to finish a head I had begun, they made me remain to dinner. The dinner consisted of soup and baked apples.

My brother, three years younger than I, was as lovely as an angel. I was not nearly so lively as he, and far from being so clever or so pretty. In fact, at that time of my life I was very plain. I had an enormous forehead, and eyes far too deep-set; my nose was the only good feature of my pale, skinny face. Besides, I was growing so fast that I could not hold myself up straight, and I bent like a willow. These defects were the despair of my mother. 

I fancy she had a weakness for my brother. At any rate, she spoiled him and forgave him his youthful sins, whereas she was very severe toward myself. To make up for it, my father overwhelmed me with kindness and indulgence. His tender love endeared him more and more to my heart; and so my good father is ever present to me, and I believe I have not forgotten a word he uttered in my hearing. How often, during 1789, did I think of something in sort prophetic which he said. He had come home from a philosophers' dinner where he had met Diderot, Helvetius and d'Alembert. He was so thoroughly dejected that my mother asked him what the matter was. "All I have heard to-night, my dear," he replied, "makes me believe that the world will soon be turned upside down."

To be continued

 

Vigee LeBrun: A Passion for Art

Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
Self-Portrait, 1790

The following excerpts are from the hand of Madame Vigee Lebrun herself, in her book "Memoirs of Madame Vigeee Lebrun," and tell the fascinating story of her life:

"I will begin by speaking of my childhood, which is the symbol, so to say, of my whole life, since my love for painting declared itself in my earliest youth. I was sent to a boarding-school at the age of six, and remained there until I was eleven. During that time I scrawled on everything at all seasons; my copy-books, and even my schoolmates', I decorated with marginal drawings of heads, some full-face, others in profile; on the walls of the dormitory I drew faces and landscapes with coloured chalks. So it may easily be imagined how often I was condemned to bread and water. I made use of my leisure moments outdoors in tracing any figures on the ground that happened to come into my head. At seven or eight, I remember, I made a picture by lamplight of a man with a beard, which I have kept until this very day. When my father saw it he went into transports of joy, exclaiming, "You will be a painter, child, if ever there was one!"

I mention these facts to show what an inborn passion for the art I possessed. Nor has that passion ever diminished; it seems to me that it has even gone on growing with time, for to-day I feel under the spell of it as much as ever, and shall, I hope, until the hour of death. It is, indeed, to this divine passion that I owe, not only my fortune, but my felicity, because it has always been the means of bringing me together with the most delightful and most distinguished men and women in Europe. The recollection of all the notable people I have known often cheers me in times of solitude.

As a schoolgirl my health was frail, and therefore my parents would frequently come for me to take me to spend a few days with them. This, of course, suited my taste exactly. My father, Louis Vigée, made very good pastel drawings; he did some which would have been worthy of the famous Latour. My father allowed me to do some heads in that style, and, in fact, let me mess with his crayons all day. He was so wrapt up in his art that he occasionally did queer things from sheer absent-mindedness. I remember how, one day, after dressing for a dinner in town, he went out and almost immediately came back, it having occurred to him that he would like to touch up a picture recently begun. He removed his wig, put on a nightcap, and went out again in this head gear, with his gilt-frogged coat, his sword, etc. Had not one of his neighbours stopped him, he would have exhibited himself in this costume all through the town.

He was a very witty man. His natural good spirits infected every one, and some came to be painted by him for the sake of his amusing conversation. Once, when he was making a portrait of a rather pretty woman, my father observed, while he worked at her mouth, that she made all manner of grimaces in order to make that organ look smaller. Falling out of patience with all this maneuvering, my father quietly remarked:

"Please don't let me give you so much trouble. You have only to say the word and I will paint you without a mouth."

To be continued

John White Alexander: Comparing Opportunities for Artists in Europe/USA, 1901-1912, Pt. 2

"In the Cafe" by John Alexander White

John White Alexander continues to speak on the influence of the government of a country on its Art and artists:

"Interest on the part of the public is fostered in every possible way by the Administration of the Fine Arts with the result that Paris is never without its current Art Exhibitions. The two Salons in the Spring - the International Society, the Independents, the Water Colourists, the Etchers, the Rose Croix, the Pastelists and dozens of societies of faddists all keep the ball moving - and invariably the foreigner is welcome to take part if he only has something original to say and is strong enough to say it. And the Artists are everywhere as well known personally to the public as are our politicians to us.

In France the President opens the Salons officially and in England some member of the royal family attends the Royal Academy banquet. The President of the Royal Academy and the Scottish Academy are knighted and all the ceremony and pageant of the thing excites interest and creates an impression on the people.

I remember very well the first exhibition held by the handful of Symbolist painters, poets and sculptors who formed the Society of the Rose Croix. This exhibition took place in the rue Lafitte and excited so much public interest that it was impossible to turn in from the boulevard to the street. The crowd trying to gain admittance to the gallery was so dense on the opening days.

The beauty of the city of Paris is also jealously guarded by the government so that no man is allowed to build a house until all his plans have been passed on and approved by an official board who sees to it that in height and design it will not mar the general effect of the street or disturb the harmony of the skyline. Each year the city gives a gold medal and one thousand francs to the architect who plans the most artistic house, to its builder goes a silver medal and five hundred francs, and its owner has his taxes cut  50%.

Everywhere and in everything the belief is encouraged and fostered that Art is of practical value and not merely a pleasant but useless luxury and that its encouragement tends to beauty, to cultivation and to advancement for every citizen."

John White Alexander: Comparing Opportunities for Artists in Europe/USA, 1901-1912

"Repose" by John White Alexander

It is very interesting to get the perspective of fine artists in America at the turn of the century (1900) as they were either seeking good instruction here, overcoming attitudes towards the art profession in the States, or searching for a unique American style of art. In this essay, John White Alexander compares the philosophy and opportunities for artists in America and Europe at that time:

"The relation of the people towards Art differs greatly in this country [America] from that existing in Europe. In the first place, over there its governmental recognition as a large factor in public education - dignifies it in the eyes of the people.

In Europe Art is not a luxury - for the exclusive enjoyment of the very rich. It is a possession and vital part of the life of even the poorest and humblest citizen. The same faculty is shown in the wonderful classification and arrangements of the exhibits in their museums. I have had occasion several times to hunt up costumes and details for my work and I can testify to the ease with which I found what I wanted - and also to the invariable courtesy, interest and even eagerness shown by the directors and attendants to help and make everything as easy as possible for me.

It is certain that one of the greatest incentives to work is the feeling that others have confidence that what we are engaged in doing is really worthwhile, and governmental recognition of Art certainly would seem to denote this confidence on their part as to the value of the artists' work. The schools that are built for him and the galleries that are open to him give his profession an importance that is at once noble and dignified.

The artist and art artisan in France knows at once where he will be able to find the best examples of what has already been accomplished in all the different branches of his particular artwork - and this applies not only to France but to all the principle countries of Europe. 

The number of schools associated with the Fine Arts and Applied Arts in France are too numerous to mention.

The French Government publishes and sells at less than cost, books on the subject of the Fine and Applied Arts. One can get for a franc the book on painting, which will give both simple and detailed information on the subject.

The local government in all the departments of France aid and encourage the young men of talent in their district by prizes and patronage. These young men of talent are eventually sent to Paris entering the schools and kept well in view by the Inspectors of Beaux Arts who distribute the government patronage. The immature but carefully chosen works of these young students are actually purchased by the government and sent to the provinces where they become the nucleus of future museums. 

Leon Bonnat, once of the best known modern French portrait painters was sent to Paris from his native village in this way. He now owns one of the finest private collections in Paris and at his death this collection will go to his native town as an expression of his gratitude for its timely help, without which he never could have attained the eminence which he now enjoys."

To be continued

(Excerpts from a speech by John White Alexander, ca. 1901-1912 comparing opportunities and support for artists in Europe and the USA: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/john-white-alexander-papers-8637/series-5/box-1-folder-80 )

John White Alexander: Public Service

"Study of a Man (with Moustache)"
by John White Alexander

"During John White Alexander's latter years, a great deal of his time was taken away from his painting and given to public service. Toward leadership he gravitated inevitably, and in it he established himself solidly, using the experience of one official position to affirm that of another, touching the circle of the Arts at many points of its circumference. 

In this synthesizing he worked first, say, as a member of the Board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at increasing and caring for the museum's treasures. Next as an officer of the School Art League he worked to provide intelligent appreciation of those treasures, appreciation planted in the minds of the children of the city to grow till it should reward the museum's effort with understanding adults - and trained. And he did not leave it there, but after showing art objects of many kinds to these young seekers, he followed them to their East Side clubs and schools and catechized them, and when he noted what they had best remembered, he encouraged them to try experiments of their own in painting and modeling and stimulated them by prizes which he judged.

To such an instinctive maker of pictures as he, it was an easy progression for him from his canvases to the moving pictures of a pageant or a play. Of course, the organizers of charity bazaars sought Alexander as arranger of tableaux. 'If you have a frame and some gauze,' he would say, 'you have no idea how much you can do in a moment with a few colored rags.' He was so smiling and kindly that one sometimes did not realize how much his ready service must often have tired him.

He was either officer or member of twenty different art societies. Of many of these he was president: of the National Academy of Design, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the School Art League of New York, the National Academy Association and the MacDowell Club. The list could go on and on."

To be continued

(From the Smithsonian Archives of American Art: https://www.aaa.si.edu/.../john.../series-1/box-1-folder-1 )

John White Alexander: Muralist

From "The Crowning of Labor" by John White Alexander

"In the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., are six lunettes setting forth 'The Evolution of the Book,' and in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Institute are forty-eight panels, the 'Crowning of Labor,' which represent John White Alexander's achievement in the field of mural decoration. 

The 'Crowning of Labor' was one of the largest commissions, covering almost 4,000 square feet,  both to extent and remuneration that have ever gone to a mural painter. He was chosen to decorate the entire grand staircase of the Carnegie Institute Building, and he selected for his subject 'The Crowning of Labor' as an apotheosis of Pittsburgh.

The principle group is at the second floor of what the French aptly call the cage d'escalier. A man in steel armor, typical enough of the city in foundries, stands poised against clouds with his drawn sword in his hand and is apparently the focal hero of the apotheosis. In a sort of semi-circle before him are young women symbolizing Peace, Prosperity, Luxuries, and Education, making graceful obeisance to him. A line of women blow long slender trumpets in his honor. 

Below, around and above these figures, smoke and steam curl and mount with the stories of the staircase, not only offering a presence appropriate to Pittsburgh, but also affording a medium of the utmost value to the creator of the decoration since it enabled him to dissemble the figures wherever he pleases and concentrate them in groups at the points of real vantage. 

In the twelve panels of one of the walls to the staircases there are said to be 400 figures of men, women and children, the people from the streets of Pittsburgh. Since everything was painted by the hand of Alexander himself, one feels rather appalled at the strain put upon such a fragile physique as his and feels that the result was quite as much the crowning of the painter's devotion as it was 'The Crowning of Labor.'

John White Alexander completed the first elements of the mural in 1907 and the remainder in 1908. He died before finishing the panels for the third floor. These last panels would have portrayed Andrew Carnegie's cultural pillars of art, science, music, and literature, but sadly remained unfinished."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John White Alexander: A Biographical Sketch" by H.M. B. for "The American Magazine of Art," an online essay on the "Grand Staircase": https://carnegieart.org/art/art-around-you/grand-staircase/ and biographical notes from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/john-white-alexander-papers-8637/series-1/box-1-folder-1)

John White Alexander: Marriage and Paris

"A year after Alexander came home from his second summer spent abroad, in 1887, he married Elizabeth Alexander. They lived in New York for three years after their marriage. Then, early in 1890, they went abroad, because he had a serious attack of grippe, which left him in a much weakened condition. They expected to stay two years and stayed eleven; years rich in happy associations and friendships, and especially notable because of the distinguished honors and professional recognition which came to the young painter. 

The Alexanders lived in Paris and were in touch with French life and French art in a peculiarly intimate sense. Few Americans have more happily taken their place in the social and artistic life of a foreign city.

Alexander received marked recognition for the first time in the spring of 1893, at the exhibition of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to which he had sent three portraits: 'The Gray Dress,' 'The Black Dress,' and 'The Yellow Dress.' This group was the feature of the Salon, the paintings were marked number 1, were hung together in a panel and the young painter was immediately afterward elected associate of the society. This success was followed by an exhibition at the Grafton Gallery in London of two portraits which were given a place of honor.

"The Gray Dress"

"The Black Dress"

"The Yellow Dress"

The next year, he exhibited a group of five portraits and two compositionsat the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and in June of that year he was elected to full membership with the privilege of exhibiting hors concours, of voting with the society and of serving on its juries. Thishonor by French society place him at once in the front rank of the younger painters. Recognition in other cities followed closely. He was invited tocontribute to the exhibitions of Europe and of the United States and medals and awards came to him from the most distinguished sources and his work became part of collections around the world."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John White Alexander: A Biographical Sketch" by H.M. B. for "The American Magazine of Art.")

John White Alexander: Magazine Illustrations on Location

"Robert Louis Stevenson"
by John White Alexander

"After John White Alexander's return from Europe, he continued illustrating for Harper's. He and Fred Muller made a voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in the towboat of a large coal fleet, which was described by Mr. Muller in an article, 'King Coal's Highway,' for which Mr. Alexander made a series of illustrations. 

Alexander also spent two summers abroad. The first summer, in 1884, he went to Spain and Morocco; the second summer, that of 1886, he went for 'The Century Company' to do work for that magazine - a series of portraits, including Thomas Hardy, Alphonse Daudet, Austin Dobson, George Bancroft and Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson was living at at Skerryvore, Bournemouth, in the south of England, and Alexander stayed with him there. On July 11, 1886, Stevenson wrote to his family about the portrait which was published in 'The Century' for April, 1888; and later in a letter written to Henry James, Stevenson refers to Alexander, this time to 'the dear Alexander,' whom he says he has just seen. The portrait of George Bancroft appeared in 'The Century' for January, 1887, and the Hardy portrait in July, 1893. 

Alexander also spent a month or six weeks in Ireland that year, doing a number of illustrations, interesting landscape sketches, for a series of articles about Ireland by Charles de Kay, which appeared in 'The Century' during 1889 and 1890."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John White Alexander: A Biographical Sketch" by H.M. B. for "The American Magazine of Art.")

John White Alexander: Studies in Europe

"Portrait of Mrs. John White Alexander"
by John White Alexander

"John White Alexander remained for about three years with Harper & Brothers. Having saved up $300, he and a friend sailed from Philadelphia for Liverpool. After a short time spent in London, they went to Paris, where they were disappointed to find the Ecole des Beaux Art, which they expected to enter, closed for repairs. His friend suggested that, as he knew a few words of German - neither of them knew a word of French - they should go to Munich.

In Munich Alexander studied for about three months, in the class of Professor Benzcur at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Although he earned some income by sending drawings back to Harper's, the expense of living in the city was comparatively high. Also Alexander was not in sympathy with the severe and academic method of the school, so he decided to go to Polling where there was at that time a small colony of American artists, among others J. Frank Currier, Walter L. Shirlaw, Joseph De Camp and Ross Turner. There Alexander first started to paint. 

He sent, at the suggestion of Professor Benzcur, some of his drawings to the Students' Exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and was awarded a bronze medal, his first honor. After leaving Polling, Alexander joined a class of art students, which Frank Duveneck had arranged to take to Florence and teach. Duveneck and Alexander went ahead to find studios, and in the course of a month, the others, numbering twenty-three in all, joined them in Florence, where they spent two winters.

Summers were spent in Venice, where Alexander first met James McNeil Whistler, who was them making the series of Venetian etchings which have since become so famous. He was working one day with his easel up when a stranger came and looked over his shoulder and made some criticism of his work. It proved to be Whistler, and the the acquaintance which developed into a warm and lifelong friendship dated from that day."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John White Alexander: A Biographical Sketch" by H.M.B. for "The American Magazine of Art.")

John White Alexander: A Hard Start

"The Blue Bowl" by John White Alexander

"John White Alexander was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1856. During his early boyhood he lived with his grandparents, his father and mother having died when he was very young. When he was twelve years old he left school and took a position as a messenger in the Pittsburgh office of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.  Col. Edward Jay Allen, the secretary and treasurer of the company, became interested in the boy, and upon the death of his grandfather, was appointed his guardian and took him into his own home.

Alexander lived with Colonel Allen until he was about eighteen, when he went to New York, with the purpose of studying art. There he secured employment with Harper & Brothers, although it was some time before he was given a place in the illustrating department. Charles Parsons was then at the head of this department, and during those years he gave Alexander valuable help and encouragement. 

At that time illustrations for the magazines were made by working directly upon the wooden block, several men frequently working upon the same block. Alexander usually put in the figures, but such composite illustrations were often unsigned. We do not, in turning to the old files of Harper's, find much that throws light upon this period of Alexander's work, although there appear occasional cartoons, signed 'Alexander,' from about September 18, 1876 until the middle of 1877.

Later on Alexander had frequent signed illustrations in Harper's publications, and also in the 'Century,' but this was after he had gone abroad, and not during those first apprentice years. Thomas Nast, Edwin Austin Abbey, Stanley Reinhart and A.B. Frost were all working for Harper's when Alexander first went there, and we know that he was in close touch with these men, and that in many cases the friendships which were formed there lasted throughout his life."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John White Alexander" by H.M.B. in "The American Magazine of Art.")