Paul-Albert Besnard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul-Albert Besnard (June 2, 1849 - December 4, 1934 ) was a French painter.
[edit] Biography
He was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, winning the Prix de Rome in 1874.
Until about 1880 he followed the academic tradition, but then broke away completely, and devoted himself to the study of colour and light as conceived by the impressionists. The realism of this group never appealed to his bold imagination, but he applied their technical method to ideological and decorative works on a large scale, such as his frescoes at the Sorbonne, the Ecole de Pharmacie, the ceiling of the Comédie-Française (main theatre in Paris), the Salle des Sciences at the Hôtel de Ville, the mairie of the Ier arrondissement, and the chapel of Berck hospital, for which he painted twelve Stations of the Cross in an entirely modern spirit.
A great virtuoso, he achieved brilliant successes alike in watercolour, pastel, oil and etching, both in portraiture, in landscape and in decoration. A good example of his daring unconventionality is his portrait of Madame Réjane; and his close analysis of light can be studied in his picture "Femme qui se chauffe at the Luxembourg in Paris."
He was head of the French School at Rome in 1913-21 and became director of the École des Beaux Arts in 1922. He was represented in the official exhibition of French art held in the United States in 1919-20 by a symbolic portrait of Cardinal Mercier. An important exhibition of his works was shown in different cities of the United States in 1924.[1]
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Pierre Loti |
Seat 13 Académie française 1924-1934 |
Succeeded by Louis Gillet |
