Guarisco Gallery 2012

98 Eugène Louis Boudin Known primarily for sunlit beachscapes and harbor scenes, Eugène Boudin was one of the greatest influences on the stylistic development of the painters who became known as the Impressionists including: Camille Pissaro, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, and Armand Guillaumin. Boudin, whose works were influenced by the loosely painted landscapes of the Barbizon school, focused on capturing atmospheric effects through the use of light, loose paint application, and plein-air painting. He was the first French artist in modernity to elevate the art of marine painting to the level achieved by English painters like J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. [ Museums: Philadelphia Mus. of Art; National Gallery, London; Louvre, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Wash., D.C.; Musèe d’Orsay, Paris; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston] * * * * * * * * * * * * In Le Quai à Saint Valery-sur-Somme, Boudin depicts the waterfront of the small medieval town located at the junction of the Somme with the ocean. Boudin places great emphasis on the towering mast of the ship, placing it in the center of the composition. Although undoubtedly painted out-of-doors and intended to capture the spontaneity of atmospheric effects, Boudin’s balanced and ordered composition imbues the picture with stability and a sense of calmness. Like in most of his paintings, Boudin places great emphasis on the sky, a subject he was fascinated with throughout his life, earning him the title “king of the skies.” Le Quai à Saint Valery-sur- Somme embodies Boudin’s usual themes of leisure and nature, along with his love for movement and atmospheric effects which he passed on to the Impressionists. En plein air is a technique of painting that refers to the painting of landscapes out-of-doors, rather than in the artist’s studio. This type of painting did not become common practice until the mid-19th century, with the invention of portable equipment including paint in tubes, and the collapsible easel. Many artists, particularly landscape painters, worked outside of Paris, preferring to work out-of-doors because it allowed them to take advantage of the natural light. The painters of the Barbizon School and the Impressionists are especially associated with the plein air technique. (Right) Eugène Boudin French, 1824-1898 Le Quai à Saint Valery-sur-Somme signed, d.1886, o/c 18-1/8” x 14-1/8” 30-3/4” x 27-1/2” fr. Literature: Schmit, Eugène Boudin (Paris, 1973), p. 89 (illus)