William Henry Hunt (1790 – 1864) was an English watercolourist. This is one of my favourite paintings – Primroses and Bird’s Nest.
Hunt specialised in still life compositions, mainly fruit, flowers, nests and eggs – he was known as ‘Bird’s Nest’ Hunt. This is one of his bird’s nest paintings, measuring just 7½ inches by 10¾ inches. I saw a variation of this painting at the Royal Academy of Art ofThe Great Age of British Watercolours 1750 – 1880 exhibition several years ago. The catalogue describes Hunt as an outstanding technician. His work was admired by many, including John Ruskin who took lessons from him in 1854 and 1861.
There are a few details about Hunt in The Pre-Raphaelites by Timothy Hilton, including a reproduction of this painting. Amazingly, Hunt said:
I feel really frightened every time I sit down to paint a flower.
I think his paintings are just so beautiful. For more information on Hunt’s method of painting see Craig’s comment below.
A few weeks ago I started to go to an art club and being a beginner I was full of doubts about my ability to draw. Even though I’ve enjoyed the sessions, I felt as though I’d been dropped in the deep end with sketching then painting a view of Bamburgh Castle in watercolour. I got the proportions all wrong, but it didn’t look terrible even if it didn’t look like Bamburgh Castle.
So I decided to see what books we have that would help me to improve and found this little book which looks excellent.
… a complete course for beginner artists who want to learn how to draw landscape pictures. Step-by-step instructions are given for most of the drawings used as examples within these pages. You will start with easy-to-do studies which have been created to boost your self-confidence, and to show you that anyone can learn this skill. If you have never drawn anything except breath, don’t worry. I have ways of teaching you! (page 7)
It seems that thinking success is the secret. We have to think ‘I can’ and we really can:
Where so many people go wrong is that they allow self doubt to interfere. They worry about whether they can draw something, more than how to do so. If you think you can’t draw a landscape, you will be right; you will fail. This wrong instruction (“I can’t”) will be acted upon by your subconscious mind – your “computer” – just as quickly and as powerfully as when you have “I can” working for you. Unfortunately, many of us seem to be brain-washed to think negatively. Perhaps lack of encouragement during our school-days has resulted in what has become a bad habit. Bad habits can be changed! You just have to know that we all have unlimited potential. (page 10)
So, I shall be testing this out and see just how much I can improve with the help of this little book – I may even post the results!
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by MizB where you share €˜teasers’. I’ve adapted it a bit to include more information about the book and longer teasers.
Non-fiction books often take me a while to read and Sue Roe’s The Private Lives of the Impressionists is no exception; not however, because it’s difficult to read or boring, but simply because I decided to read it slowly. The Impressionists were a mixed bunch, including Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, and Caillebotte. I feel I got to know some of them more than others and have only just skimmed the surface of their lives, which is understandable in a book covering so many people.
The Private Lives of the Impressionists tells how the early leaders of the group met when students in the studios of Paris. There was Monet, from an affluent family background originally from Normandy, Pissarro a Portuguese Jew from a very different background, born in the Dutch West Indies, Cezanne, a strange and intense student from Aix-en-Provence. The group widened with the addition of Renoir, from a working family (his father was a tailor from Limoges), Sisley the son of an English merchant and a Frenchwoman, and Bazille the son of a wealthy Montpellier wine-grower. They rebelled against the Salon and were pilloried and criticised for their work. They struggled to make a living, although now their paintings sell for millions.
Manet, whose father was a judge and mother the god-daughter of the King of Sweden, was not really a part of their group , although over the years he supported them but never exhibited at the Impressionists exhibitions. To say that Manet was a complex character is an understatement and I’m going to read a biography devoted to him alone at some point. I’d also like to know more about Pissarro, Berthe Morisot and Renoir in particular.
This book follows their lives and loves and how their art developed over 26 years between 1860 when they first met and the introduction of their work to America in 1886. The Epilogue summarised what happened to each artist as the end of the century approached and the Paris art scene changed completely.
I now feel rather sad to have come to the end but there is a bibliography, essential for non-fiction books in my view, listing other books on the artists. If I’m being picky I’d criticise the bibliography because it’s arranged a-z by author – I’d prefer it to be arranged the individual artists. I’d also have liked more illustrations, but there are plenty of books on Impressionism. I’d also love to travel the world to see their paintings – in London, Paris, and the US – well maybe I’ll manage the London galleries.
These are some of my favourite paintings, some of which are in this book.
Bar at the Folies Bergere by Manet
Red Roofs, 1877
La Loge by Renoir
This is the eleventh library book I’ve read this year – still on target to complete the Support Your Local Library Challenge.
BooksPlease 