Trained in the same studio as Bastien-Lepage and Gervex, he emerged a bitter critic of academic painting. He painted several masterpieces of Naturalism.
realism
1882 was a remarkably productive year for him, with a succession of major works, including landscapes, and Naturalist paintings which were dominant long after his death.
A detailed look at his paintings of the rural poor which led up to Naturalism, and how he used a compositional formula so successfully.
His paintings of markets, including Paris’s famous Les Halles, are superb, as are his pastels.
Little-known now, and only for his paintings of harvesters and gleaners, in his day he was at the leading edge of the Naturalist revolution, painting scientists.
From 1880, artists concentrated on social aspects of work. They questioned whether young children should be at work, and the role of the worker in society.
With the Industrial Revolution, painters started to depict the furnaces and factories which grew rapidly across Europe and North America. This selection runs to 1879.
After the early death of Bastien-Lepage, he led the Naturalist movement in France. After 1892, though, he concentrated on religious themes seen in a new light.
Working alongside Jules Bastien-Lepage, he was a brilliant painter who in his early career experimented with different styles.
In his later work, he used pastels more, creating soft images of twilight scenes in town and country.
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