beside the easel

Boys Playing on the Shore, 1884 Born on July 21, 1854 in Southern Finland, Albert Edelfelt was a successful Finnish Realist painter. While studying art in Helsinki in his late teens, Edelfelt became frustrated by the type of instruction in Finland at that time and, after a brief stint in Antwerp he moved to Paris studying under Gérôme . Edelfelt's work is comprised of both portraiture and landscape, where he often painted en plein air and equally adept in both oils and watercolour. His popularity rose in his lifetime during his time in Paris and attracted many admirers, including Van Gogh. Edelfelt's style is warm and fresh, almost like Sorolla yet with a deep respect for his own culture and people despite living in Paris for so many years. His realism is inviting and mindful, with an innate sense of colour for all of his compositions and portraits. In Boys Playing on the Shore above, Edelfelt brings us back to childhood with a remarkably muted palette. Despite the sun...

The Fog Warning, 1885 Born February 24, 1836 in Boston, Winslow Homer was an American painter and printmaker. Homer was largely self-taught, working in both oils and watercolor, known for combining the landscape and sea with figures. His work is characterized by a bold palette, vivid textures and often dramatic use of light. Homer painted in such a way that he immerses the viewer into his subject matter using all of the senses, particularly in his seascapes. With his stylish, walrus moustache and skimmer hat Homer traveled throughout Paris, England, Canada, Cuba and America with instinct that captured a land in a way that is strangely hypnotic and present. His influence spread far and include artists such as Howard Pyle and N. C. Wyeth, among others. In The Fog Warning above, Homer uses a low perspective and props the man in the boat at a strong diagonal to really emphasize the undulating current of a restless sea. Yet despite the choppy waters the fisherman has caught a good ...

Mother, 1893 Elin Kleopatra Danielson-Gambogi was born September 3, 1861 in southwest Finland. She moved to Helsinki for her early art education then travelled and studied in Paris and finally Florence, Italy under a scholarship for a year until she moved to northern Italy in a small village called Antignano where she met her husband, painter Raffaello Gambogi . Elin only lived to the age of 58, but in her short time produced a solid, diverse body of work that embraces the individuality and strength of women and nature. Her broad spectrum and saturation of colors is fascinating in that she was equally drawn to many different kinds of light and all the effects they produce. In Mother above, Elin captures a quiet, tender moment with a palette of earth colours, greys and white. Love how that window is painted in thick, impasto strokes of almost pure white that fade as she scumbles the edges to simulate transparent drapes—an absolutely brilliant effect. Elin also balances th...

The Vegetable Garden, ca.1885-1888 Anthonij (Anton) Rudolf Mauve was a Dutch painter born on September 18, 1838 in Zaandam, northern Holland. He was a leading member of the Hague School of painters in the late 1800's, and outside Holland not well-known except for his connection to Vincent Van Gogh , whom he influenced greatly. Mauve's work focused on rural motifs that captured the everyday farm-life under the often characteristic overcast skies that define Dutch landscape art and the Hague School, hence earning them the curious nickname the Gray School. Mauve's early art instruction were from more formulaic Dutch painters that Mauve sought to break free from into a more naturalist approach using color and mood to heightened effect. Action and composition were not the primary forces that motivated Mauve, but rather the way people moved, how they worked, and the scenic atmosphere under which they lived. Mauve would eventually evolve into another school or rather art col...

Femme à la fenêtre attendant l'arrivée d'une personne Born in Northeastern France on March 19, 1862, Marcel Rieder was a French painter whose use of light is captivating and warm. Rieder was a sort of modern tenebrist reminiscent of Matthias Stom, Gerard van Honthorst, Joseph Wright of Derby and Georges de La Tour. His style seems to be somewhat Hopperesque. What makes Rieder unique is that all of his figures are women, predominantly, and his type of genre painting has a mysterious quality in that the figures are pensive, lost in their own world. This type of psychology is an interesting element that draws us toward his subjects and makes us reflect on our own thoughts. In the above painting a woman stands by the window with a soft light coming through the window, waiting for someone. The composition is not terribly inventive (although the use of perspective draws us in), and the surrounding elements seem rather dull, but it is the way Rieder painted this woman that is c...