Four artists who painted in the style of the impressionists, but who are less well-known today. The first was Dutch, and the others were American, Scottish & Norwegian.
George Hendrijk Breitner, 1857-1923, was born in Rotterdam. He was a painter who worked en plein air and also a photographer. He studied at the Academy of Art in the Hague and met Vincent van Gogh in 1882. Breitner preferred working class subjects, and he and van Gogh often painted in the poorer districts of Amsterdam. He saw himself as a painter of the people. Through his masterly city scenes he introduced “social realism in art” to the Netherlands.
George Hendrik Breitner, Distribution of Soup, 1882
George Hendrik Breitner, Meisje in witte kimono,1894, oil on canvas, 59 x 57 cm, Rijkmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
George Hendrik Breitner, Building site Amsterdam, c1890
John Henry Twatchtman, 1853-1902, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he began to study painting. Like many American artists of the time he travelled abroad, first to Munich and its Academy of Fine Arts, and then to Paris, where, between 1883 and 1885, he was enrolled in the Académie Julian. He spent the rest of his life in Connecticut, where he painted mainly landscapes of the area, and his farm and garden.
John Henry Twatchtman, The White Bridge, c 1895, oil on canvas, 77 x 77 cm, Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, USA
John Henry Twatchtman, Fishing Boats at Gloucester, 1901, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, USA
John Henry Twatchtman, Landscape, Branchville, c 1888, oil on canvas, 152 x 203 cm, Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, USA
James MacLaughlan Nairn, 1859-1904, was born in Glasgow, where he studied for four years, and was associated for a while with the Glasgow Boys, a group interested in impressionism.
He moved to New Zealand for health reasons, painting there en plein air, and thus introducing the impressionist style of the Glasgow group to the country.
James MacLaughlan Nairn, Winter Morning, Wellington Harbour, c.1900, Te Papa Tongarew Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
…which is very similar to
Claude Monet, Impression, soleil levant, oil on canvas, 48 × 63 cm, Musée Marmottan, Paris, France
James MacLaughlan Nairn, Wellington Harbour, 1894, oil on canvas, Te Papa Tongarew Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
James MacLaughlan Nairn, Evans Bay, Wellington, 1893, oil on canvas, Te Papa Tongarew Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
Frits Thaulow, 1847-1906, was born in Christiania, Norway, and studied at the Academy of Art in Copenhagen and later at the Baden School of Art in Karlsruhe.
In 1892 he moved to France where he spent the rest of his life. He found that the cityscapes of Paris did not suit him, and so chose to paint in Montreuil, Dieppe, Quimper and the Dordogne.
Unusually for artists of the time he received several honours, including the Légion d’Honneur
Frits Thaulow, La Dordogne à Beaulieu, 1903, oil on canvas, Private Collection
Frits Thaulow, Clair de lune à Beaulieu, 1904, oil on canvas, Private Collection
Frits Thaulow, Le Curé, c1900, oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, Private Collection
MH, 12 December, 2018, Meeting No 7
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