Adolphe-Félix Cals
Encyclopedia
Adolphe-Félix Cals was a French
portrait
, genre, and landscape painter.
, then went on to study art at the atelier of Léon Cogniet
. However he parted company with his (neoclassical-influenced) teacher, owing to the latter's lack of appreciation for the emerging impressionist
movement in art.
In 1863, Cals exhibited at the "Salon des Refusés
", alongside works by Monet, Degas and Pissarro. Art dealer Pierre–Firmin Martin, known as "Father Martin", liked his work, and Cals went on to paint portraits of Martin and his wife (now in the "Musée Eugène Boudin" in Honfleur
). So began the next phase of his career; influenced by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Johan Barthold Jongkind, he worked in more subdued, less fawn-coloured tones, more closely matching the Impressionists without adopting the "purple-violet which some painters are flooding their paintings with" - as Victor Jannesson remarked in his book on Cals (see bibliography)
Having divided his time between Paris and Honfleur since 1871, he finally decided, to settle down, in 1873, in Honfleur, a port in Normandy
which was home to many painters, and has been called "the cradle of impressionism". A friend of Jongkind, he regularly visited the "Saint-Simeon Farm", an inn in Honfleur, famous as a meeting place for artists and writers, such as Claude Monet
, Eugène Boudin
and Baudelaire, as well as Jongkind himself.
Having settled, with his daughter, in Honfleur during the last decade of his life, Cals painted the harbor, the sea and its associated human life. At the invitation of Monet, he participated in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and 1876, until 1881.
Cals died in Honfleur on 3rd October 1880, aged 70.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
portrait
Portrait painting
Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait...
, genre, and landscape painter.
Life and work
Cals initially trained as an engraver under Jean-Louis AnselinJean-Louis Anselin
Jean-Louis Anselin was a French engraver. Amongst his best work is an engraved portrait of Madame Pompadour as "La Belle Jardinière" .-Life and work:...
, then went on to study art at the atelier of Léon Cogniet
Léon Cogniet
Léon Cogniet was a French historical and portrait painter.- Biography :Cogniet was born in Paris. In 1812, he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Pierre-Narcisse Guérin at the same time as Delacroix and Géricault. In 1817 he won the Prix de Rome and was a resident at...
. However he parted company with his (neoclassical-influenced) teacher, owing to the latter's lack of appreciation for the emerging impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
movement in art.
In 1863, Cals exhibited at the "Salon des Refusés
Salon des Refusés
The Salon des Refusés, French for “exhibition of rejects” , is generally an exhibition of works rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863.-Background:...
", alongside works by Monet, Degas and Pissarro. Art dealer Pierre–Firmin Martin, known as "Father Martin", liked his work, and Cals went on to paint portraits of Martin and his wife (now in the "Musée Eugène Boudin" in Honfleur
Honfleur
Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...
). So began the next phase of his career; influenced by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Johan Barthold Jongkind, he worked in more subdued, less fawn-coloured tones, more closely matching the Impressionists without adopting the "purple-violet which some painters are flooding their paintings with" - as Victor Jannesson remarked in his book on Cals (see bibliography)
Having divided his time between Paris and Honfleur since 1871, he finally decided, to settle down, in 1873, in Honfleur, a port in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
which was home to many painters, and has been called "the cradle of impressionism". A friend of Jongkind, he regularly visited the "Saint-Simeon Farm", an inn in Honfleur, famous as a meeting place for artists and writers, such as Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Eugène Boudin
Eugène Boudin
Eugène Boudin was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors.Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores...
and Baudelaire, as well as Jongkind himself.
Having settled, with his daughter, in Honfleur during the last decade of his life, Cals painted the harbor, the sea and its associated human life. At the invitation of Monet, he participated in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and 1876, until 1881.
Cals died in Honfleur on 3rd October 1880, aged 70.
External links
- Adolphe-Félix Cals online (Artcyclopedia)