Cloisonnisme (1888-1894)

Introduction and History

In French painting, the term "cloisonnism" (after the French for "partition") describes a style of expressionism associated, in particular, with Emile Bernard (1868-1941), Louis Anquetin (1861-1932) and Paul Gauguin (1848-1903).

Based on a two-dimensional pattern, featuring large patches of bright colour enclosed within thick black outlines, in the manner of medieval cloisonné enamelling or stained glass, the word Cloisonnism was first coined in 1888 by the art critic Edouard Dujardin.

One of the lesser known modern art movements, albeit an influential style of Post-Impressionist painting, the distinctive characteristics of Cloisonnism were its areas of pure colour (devoid of most shading or 3-D modelling effects) which gave it a strong two-dimensional appearance.

Émile Bernard

Paul Cézanne | Corrispondenza con Émile Bernard

Aix, 27 giugno 1904

Mio caro Bernard,

ho ricevuto la vostra del... che ho lasciato in campagna. Se ho tardato a rispondervi, è perché sono soggetto a disturbi cerebrali, che mi impediscono di agire liberamente. Resto sotto l'urto delle sensazioni e, malgrado l'età, inchiodato alla pittura.

Il tempo è bello, ne approfitto per lavorare; bisognerebbe fare dieci buoni studi, e venderli cari, visto che gli amatori ci speculano sopra.

Ieri è arrivata qui una lettera indirizzata a mio figlio, che la signora Brémond [la governante di Cézanne] ritiene sia vostra; gliel'ho inviata in rue Duperré 16, Parigi, IX distretto. Sembra che Vollard abbia dato qualche giorno fa una serata danzante, in cui si è molto gozzovigliato. C'era tutta la giovane scuola, sembra, Maurice Denis, Vuillard eccetera. Si sono incontrati Paul e Joachim Gasquet. Credo che la cosa migliore sia lavorare molto. Voi siete giovane, realizzate e vendete.

Hua Chen, 1952 | Impressionist Figurative painter

Hua Chen was born in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Between the years of 1973-1976, Chen earned a Bachelors Degree of Fine Art from the Anhui Teacher's University, Anhui, China.

He then went on to attain a Master of Fine Art Degree in sketching, watercolor and oil painting from the Central Institute of the Fine Arts in Beijing, China.

Chen has earned several titles and awards including Chairman of Anhui Oil Painting Research Association in China and is a member of the Artists Association of China.

Paul Cézanne | Figure e Lettere

Durante la sua vita il pittore Paul Cézanne ha tenuto molta corrispondenza - oltre 250 lettere, scritte a familiari, amici, colleghi artisti e mercanti, e che abbracciano le principali figure culturali della fine del XIX secolo.

Corrispondenza con Émile Bernard (French Symbolist painter, 1868-1941)

Aix en Provence, 15 aprile 1904

Caro signor Bernard,

"quando riceverete questa mia, avrete molto probabilmente già ricevuto una lettera dal Belgio, o almeno lo spero, indirizzata in rue Boulegon. Sono felice della testimonianza di simpatia artistica che avete voluto gentilmente offrirmi con la vostra lettera.

Permettetemi di ripetere quello che vi dicevo qui: trattare la natura secondo il cilindro, la sfera, il cono, il tutto posto in prospettiva, in modo che ogni lato di un oggetto o di un piano si diriga verso un punto centrale.

Lord Frederic Leighton | Victorian-era painter

Frederic Leighton, Baron Leighton, also called Sir Frederic Leighton, Baronet (born Dec. 3, 1830, Scarborough, Yorkshire, Eng.-died Jan. 25, 1896, London), academic painter of immense prestige in his own time.

After an education in many European cities, he went to Rome in 1852, where his social talents won him the friendship of (among others) the English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, the French novelist George Sand, and the English poet Robert Browning.

Leighton’s painting Cimabue’s Madonna, shown at the Royal Academy’s exhibition in 1855, was bought by Queen Victoria.

Nicolae Vermont | Genre painter

Nicolae Vermont 1866-1932 was one of the masters of Romanian Realist painting and one of the most interesting painters, muralists and draftsmen of his time, as many viewed him as an associate of Stefan Luchian.

He was a prolific and surprisingly innovative artist, with a strong, original style and manner and quite a broad choice of subjects, but he preferred landscapes and still lifes.

Vermont was one of the most interesting and influential voices of his generation, marking and changing the landscape of Romanian painting, as he always tried to offer something more, something new, to challenge rules and themes, to offer the viewer an artistic experience that was strikingly beautiful and shockingly fresh and alive. A great master and a great name.

Alexander Sheversky | Figurative painter

Striking a harmonic balance between classical composition and modern disposition an original oil painting by Alexander Sheversky speaks to an appreciation for the vocation to contemporary realism. Each canvas is stately and monumental, extolling the virtues of discipline and emotion styled by the foremost of his teachers - Rembrandt and Vermeer.

The interplay of light and shadow and especially Sheversky’s inherent understanding of light bring a life to the painting that resonates and lives before the viewer.

Whether it is a figurative study or a still life its own existence is captured by the emotive values of light itself that the artist exhibits, thus embodying the living, omnipresent nature of the subject. And so a Sheversky painting espouses a marriage of the meticulous detail of classical technique to that which is clean, modern, and conceptually crisp.

Joe Bowler (1928-2016)

Born in Forest Hills, New York in 1928, Joe began to draw when he was three. His first illustration for a national magazine was published by Cosmopolitan when he was nineteen.

While working as an apprentice at the prestigious Charles E. Cooper Studios, Inc. he had the opportunity to learn the craft from some of the finest artists in the profession.

At Cooper Studio, Joe was inspired by the illustrations he saw being done by the top artists in the field.

During the day Joe’s time was spent cleaning palettes and brushes, matting paintings and running errands.