Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933)

Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933) was a Scottish painter of landscapes, flowers and foliage, with children.

He was a cousin of James Hornell. His contemporaries in the Glasgow Boys called him Ned Hornel.

Hornel was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia, of Scottish parents, and he was brought up and lived practically all his life in Scotland after his family moved back to Kirkcudbright in 1866.

Bessie MacNicol | Portrait of Edward Atkinson Hornel, 1895

He studied for three years at the art school at Edinburgh, and for two years in Antwerp under Charles Verlat.

Returning from Antwerp in 1885, he met George Henry and associated himself with the Glasgow Boys.

Hornel and Henry collaborated upon The Druids Bringing in the Mistletoe (1890), a procession of druidic priests bringing in the sacred mistletoe, gorgeous with polychrome and gold.

The two worked side by side to achieve decorative splendor of color, Hornel boldly and freely employing texture effects produced by loading and scraping, roughening, smoothing, and staining.

In 1893-94 (funded by William Burrell via their friend and art dealer Alexander Reid) the two artists spent a year and a half in Japan, where Hornel learned much about decorative design and spacing.

In this period they met the resident British artist, Percy Sturdee.

In April 1895 Alexander Reid organised an exhibition of Henry and Hornel's Japanese work which sold very well, especially to Sir John Maxwell Stirling-Maxwell.

In 1895 he contributed the illustration Madame Chrysanthème to the Autumn volume of The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal published by Patrick Geddes and Colleagues in Edinburgh.

Towards the close of the 1890s Hornel's colors, while preserving their glow and richness, became more refined and more atmospheric, and his drawing more naturalistic, combining sensuous appeal with emotional and poetic significance.

In 1901 he declined election to the Royal Scottish Academy.

A member of Glasgow Art Club, Hornel exhibited in the club's annual exhibitions.

In 1901 he acquired Broughton House, a townhouse and garden in Kirkcudbright, which was his main residence for the rest of his life with his sister Elizabeth.

There he made several modifications to the house and designed garden taking inspiration from his travels in Japan.

On his death the house and library were donated for the benefit of the citizens and Broughton House is now administered by the National Trust for Scotland.

There are examples of his works in the museums of Aberdeen, Buffalo, Bradford, St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Hull, Bath, and Liverpool. | Source: © Wikipedia

Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933) è stato uno dei pittori del Glasgow Boy, ma non era nato a Glasgow, piuttosto in Australia.

Tuttavia, è cresciuto in Scozia, a Kirkcudbright nel Dumfries e Galloway, poiché i suoi genitori scozzesi hanno deciso di tornare in Scozia poco dopo la sua nascita.

Da giovane, l'artista Scozzese Hornel era strettamente associato ai Glasgow Boys.

Questo gruppo di artisti si è concentrato sulla cattura di effetti di luce naturalistici soprattutto nei loro caratteristici dipinti di figure nei paesaggi.

L'interesse di Hornel per i colori forti applicati con una spatola ha prodotto reti di tratti densamente modellate che sono diventate una caratteristica del suo lavoro successivo.

Collaborò a diversi dipinti decorativi con il suo amico George Henry che riflettevano il loro interesse per il folklore.

I due artisti si recarono anche in Giappone nel 1893.

Hornel tornò nella sua casa adottiva Kirkudbright e si concentrò su dipinti di bambini di successo commerciale nella campagna di Galloway. | Fonte: © National Galleries of Scotland