![]() ![]() What Rivière shows us, is man marveling at time effortlessly fading from the unmemorable to the immemorably unforgettable. This is an ode to those moments we spend in nature waiting for magic to happen. In varied skies white, orange, lemony-yellow and many gradations of these colors, expand well beyond the outer line of each composition. On the waters the artist lets pink, green, blue and gray light reflect. Being in Brittany almost exclusively in summer, his Hours are those of summer days, not of a varied time of year.ĭusk and dawn, light coming in at low angles and creating shadows, assorted moon, and sun rays, as well as blue, yellow, and overcast-gray-sky light, all make appearances. In addition to snow, wind and rain, Rivière also depicts fog, and even a rainbow. Yet a variety of weather phenomena make appearances. Nearly all compositions are quiet, with the exception of L’Averse, La Tempête, and Le Vent. While Rivière only depicted a single clearly defined season with his snowy rendition of La Neige, what the series lacks for in “seasonality”, it makes up for in other diverse atmospheric effects. The 7 vertical and 9 horizontal compositions lent themselves to depict impressionistic landscapes, focusing on the expansiveness of the seas and skies the artist inhabited one season each year. The format of these prints, generally printed in 12 colors, was inspired without a doubt by Japanese wall hangings (kakemono, kakejiku). In 19 Henri Rivière drew a series of 16 color lithographs on stone in oblong format: La Féérie des Heures (ENG: The Enchantment of Hours). These color lithographic effects remain to this day barely equaled, let alone emulated by any fine artist. Aided by a technician names René Toutain, who was often surprised by the artists technical demands, both men created all manner of color gradation effects which had never been obtained in lithography before. Cumulatively Rivière spent two and a half year at the shop. From 1897 through 1906 (and even as late as 1917), Rivière worked for many months each winter at the shop of Eugène Verneau, 108 rue de la Folie Méricourt (in Paris’ 3 rd arrondissement). After some random collaborations, Rivière and Verneau initiated what was to become one of the most ambitious projects in color lithography ever undertaken. Rivière remembers him as a friend, whom he described as generous, good-natured, jovial, and quick-witted. He seems to have had the ear of many fine artists interested in creating color lithographs as fine arts, rather than simply as commercial work. ![]() Verneau was mostly known as a printer of posters, programs, and assorted commercial lithography. Left however with many compositional concepts that had not been developed into woodcuts, Rivière revisited some of them in the late 1890s and early 1900s, when he started creating color lithographs printed and published by Eugène Verneau. He soon abandoned this technique and focused his energy on other artistic pursuits, such as the shadow theater at the Chat Noir. But he faced rejection from most print collectors for his emulation of Japanese style woodcuts. Many of these compositions became the basis for color woodcuts, which Rivière created assiduously in the early 1890s. It is clear that during these early summers in Brittany, Rivière amassed quite a body of work. If you are mostly interested in seeing images off this series, From this base, the artist would set out most mornings to discover and paint in watercolors the surrounding landscape. They returned there every summer through 1913 to spend the warmer months at their second home, which they had called Landiris. After a few years of stays in assorted fishermen and farm houses, the Riviere constructed a small stone house in Loguivy-en-Ploubazlanec. Rivière recalls in his memoirs that thanks to her prudent management of their finances, starting in the early 1890s, the young couple was able to spend four months in Brittany every summer. In 1888 Henri Rivière met Eugénie Ley, who was to become his wife in 1895. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |