Sir George Clausen RA | Realist painter

Sir George Clausen RA (18 April 1852 - 22 November 1944), was an British artist working in oil and watercolour, etching, mezzotint, dry point and occasionally lithographs. He was knighted in 1927.

George Clausen was born in London on 18 April 1852, the son of a decorative artist. From 1867-1873, he attended the design classes at the South Kensington Schools in London with great success.

He then worked in the studio of Edwin Long RA, and subsequently in Paris under Bouguereau and Robert-Fleury. He was an admirer of the naturalism of the painter Jules Bastien-Lepage; about whom he wrote in 1888 and 1892.

Clausen became one of the foremost modern painters of landscape and of peasant life, influenced to a certain extent by the Impressionists, with whom he shared the view that light is the real subject of landscape art.

His pictures excel in rendering the appearance of things under flecking outdoor sunlight, or in the shady shelter of a barn or stable. His Girl at the Gate was acquired by the Chantrey Trustees and is now at the Tate Gallery.

In 1895 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, and a full Academician in 1906. As Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy he gave a memorable series of lectures to the students of the Schools, published as Six Lectures on Painting (1904) and Aims and Ideals in Art (1906).

Clausen was an official war artist during World War I. During the war his daughter's fiancé was killed; this event may have inspired his painting, Youth Mourning. | Chisholm, Hugh © Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) Cambridge University Press.

Sir George Clausen (Londra, 1852 - Londra, 1944) è stato un pittore Inglese, noto anche come incisore ed acquerellista.

Figlio d'arte, si dedicò sin da giovane al disegno, e già all'età di 15 anni era impegnato in una ditta di decorazioni a Londra. Dal 1867-1873 studiò disegno presso la Royal College of Art e nel bienno successivo frequentò l'Accademia d'Arte di Southampton, sotto la guida di Edwing Long: Negli stessi anni espose le sue prime opere alla Royal Water-Colour Society londinese.

Lo studio della pittura olandese e della corrente naturalistica francese di Millet effettuato durante il suo soggiorno parigino, gli ispirarono le prime opere basate su una vita rustica e malinconica. Questa fase creativa è ben testimoniata da Il pensiero del 1880 e da Il pranzo del lavoratore del 1889.

Verso la fine del secolo venne nominato membro dell'Associate of the Royal Academy.

In questo stesso periodo, l'artista si avvicinò all'Impressionismo, affrontando le vedute paesaggistiche con una maggiore libertà stilistica e una migliore sensibilità. I suoi acquerelli più significativi in questa fase creativa furono La toilette, Nel bosco, Giorno grigio d'estate.

Come insegnante d'arte svolse numerose conferenze, che vennero raccolte nei libri Six Lectures on Painting (1904) ed Aims and Ideals in Art (1906). Durante la prima guerra mondiale Clausen svolse il compito di ufficiale disegnatore.