Intimate Portraits of Artist’s Own Children – Matisse, Cezanne, John, Rembrandt, Chardin, Rubens, Nicholson

 Posted on March 8, 2011

 
‘Telly Fans 10’  by adam cope – sanguine
 

 
‘Telly Fans 8’  by adam cope – graphite

Intimate Portraits by Artist’s of Their Own Children

I overheard on the web some artists saying that they couldn’t possibly do portraits of their own kids as it was ‘too close.’  I don’t agree. Neither did a lot of artists much more well know & much more further on down the artist’s path than I. Be they Mums or be they Dads. Often that extra intimacy with the model makes for a magic that isn’t found in more run of the mill portraits. Watching one’s own children is one of the treasures of parenting.

Take Augustus John’s portraits of his children for example.  Here’s one of his son Robin (1912). A real boy if ever there was. Glaring firely out of the painting, obiviously not far-off from a tantrum:

 

Another favourite of mine are Matisse’s portraits of his son Pauln (done from memory I seem to remember):

 

Cézanne’s son Paul (how did he get him to sit so so so very still for so so long?):

 

Then there’s Gainsbourgh’s two daughters ( When I was a little boy, I used to stand before this in the National gallery London with my Granny & laugh. A cabbage white, two sisters & a smile & a little hand reaching out) :

 

Rembrandt’s kids… maybe this is a scene from family life :

 

More on Rembrandt’s Drawings of Children – Anticipation & Action and Rembrandt’s Gesture Drawing

 

Gabrielle de St.Aubin :

 

Chardin (wisely skiving off his home-work):

 

Renoir (very diligent boy this):

 

Picasso , of course….many many times over! In some ways, I’m now refinding the greatness of Picasso via his images of his own children… it’s all there : love, play, intimacy, likenesses (consistant over a series & different styles), talent of course… fireworks of course… fun ,as you’d expect from kids 🙂 Here is an image that sings of eternity, of why we parents love our children 🙂 I really didn’t realise that Picasso had done quiet so many paintings of each child, with no thought for commercialism, voyeuristic onlookers,  etc:

 
 
 
 

Maurice Denis, Augustin Rouard et Lucien Jonas.

 

I could go on with this list…

And what about all the old paintings of kids …Do we know if they are the children of the artist or somebody else”q children? Some of the Quattrocento drawings of kids are astounding!

Lastly, here’s  a personal favourite of mine : Winifred Nicholson’s painting of her own two kids.

 

The last word to Kathleen Raine on Winifred Nicholson, (who lived not far from where I trained at Newcastle University UK art school at the same time …I wish I met her!)

… to be with Winifred was to be with a totally committed artist, for whom each day shed its light on a new theme for a painting. The ever-changing light of the seasons, the flowers, the weather, the arrivals and departures of children and grand-children, all these gave her what she called the ‘stories’ of her paintings in which she captured the day, the hour, and ever-fleeting present.  –   Kathleen Raine, quoted by Alice Strang, Winifred Nicholson, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2003

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A stray thought crosses my mind about actors/actresses & their off-spring, especially those that become actors/actresses in their turn.

‘e, the artist’s daughter’ by adam cope, sanguine.

 

related posts:

Drawing of Mother & Child – attachment theory – Bed Time Story 9

 Posted by

 3 Comments

A Drawing for Dad’s Birthday

 Posted on April 18, 2010

pencil drawing of a boy drawing

pencil drawing of a boy drawing
© adam cope

 

Some kids drawings for Dad”s birthday! also I drew them whilst they were making the

 Posted by

 6 Comments

Marine & her Mother Drawing

 Posted on April 7, 2010

graphite drawing of a mother & child drawing a picture

‘Marine & sa Mere – le Dessein’
A5 sketchbook – graphite
© adam cope

i like something about this one… something about the group shape beiing bound together to make one shape, not two…cute kid, Marine, no? yes!

 Posted by

 Leave a Comment

Drawings of Painters Painting

 Posted on April 6, 2010

Sunny weather brings the painters out ‘en plein air’….

Here’s some sketches from a recent day of teaching. I greatly enjoy these painting days with such good company, a honour to teach & to watch other painter’s creativity & learning open like the new spring leaves to the sun light.


Graphite, A5 Sketchbook

 Posted by

 Leave a Comment

Selling & Making Art on the Streets

 Posted on August 7, 2009

‘Chez Caty’
aquarelle
24 x 32 cm
© adam cope

 

Clowns & fire-jugglers aren’t the only ‘artistes de la rue’ in tourist hot-spot Sarlat working the summer crowds.

There’s other kinds of artists who ‘faire le trottoir’ (work the pavements), painters who paint on the streets & try to sell on the streets.

Hoping to please the passing trade. I’m not sure if exhibiting in a gallery saves oneself from such agonies & abuses, certainly there’s the pleasures of meeting & conversing with people in the hope of selling a painting. Making a spectacle of oneself… demands a thick skin, an acceptance that everyone has the right to like or dislike your paintings. The context of a gallery is safer & confers more prestige than the pavements & the railings.

There’s something beautifully ‘zen’ about exhibiting & painting on the streets. No gallerists, no gallery rituals, just the rough & the smooth. Very difficult to sell at more than 100 euros. One collides very quickly & very brutally with Andy Warhol’s bon mot “GOOD ART IS WHAT SELLS.”

I admire the courage of my fellow artists & friends.

Thierry CARRIER makes excellent ‘painting-a-day’ type of small format oils, a a pop/photo realism/IKEA style (not shown on his web site but see the above photos). His powers of concentration are incredible… to paint in the middle of thousands of people milling around is just… astounding. He explains as entering in a ‘boule’ (bubble).

In the mid-day heat…

and in the cold shadow of the cathedral…

Thierry is a real dude ‘à la Française’. Flip-flops are in this year. He is also very talented. Go see the paintings he does for ‘off street’ consumption…Thierry CARRIER

Mohammed’s portraits are great!

These sun umbrellas are onmi-present in market places in the south of France.

‘Chez Caty’
aquarelle
24 x 32 cm
© adam cope

Cathy DECRESSAC tent is nicknamed ‘ le meduse’, with artworks that hang down on chains from the sun umbrella.

Notan study for a watercolour by Adam Cope – Chinese Ink


I imagine that flipping through their stands for a small orginal painting would be a far more awarding & pleasant experience than trawling through the relentless thousands of ‘a-painting-a-day’ blogs. More of spectacle, that’s for sure.

 Posted by

 Leave a Comment

Joy Sharland – Painters Painting

 Posted on July 8, 2008

‘Painters in the Courtyard at Chateau de Beduer’ Joy SHARLAND
June 2008
Watercolour.
A3
© The Artist.
Joy came on a recent Chateaux painting Holidays in SW France, & painted this accomplished watercolour. She had these kind words to say about the experience:
Dear Adam
Thank you for one of the best painting hols ever. We really do appreciate your teaching, kindness and not least your boundless enthusiasm. Promise to do better next year. And of course life would not be so good without Sue’s patient and unobserved feats of organisation which make everything appear so effortlessly well run. Sue – I kept thinking about you and the Strine Gang descending; hope it went well. Anyway, a really big thank you from us and also to the rest of the team. We loved them all.

Joy painting inside the Chateau

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERNET COLLABORATIVE PROJECT….
Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

All levels welcome, from genius to absolute beginner.

I thought it might be fun to gather together a few of the images from ‘Le Musée Imaginaire’ (André Malraux). Images of paintings of painters painting or drawings of draughts-persons drawing. Painting holidays or painting workshops are great occasions to practice this subject.

Do you have an artwork of this type of subject? I’m going to create a static web page for these when I’ve done a ’round-up’. If you’d like to be included, why not send me a web-ready image (72 dpi – 500 pixels largest dimension) (to me at blog365-at-artists-atelier.com), and I’ll include it. Don’t forget to tell me your URL if you want a backlink. It could be fun to get all these images together. Pourquoi pas?

All levels welcome. Preferably your own work. Ongoing Project, no deadline. Please spread the word & pass on the invitation! Everyone welcome.

 

See the growing collection here :

Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

 Posted by

 3 Comments

Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

 Posted on June 25, 2008

‘Frederick and Jessie Etchells Painting’
Vanessa BELL
oil on board
1912
51 x 53 cm
Tate, London

‘Duncan Grant Painting’
Vanessa BELL
c.1920
50 x 40 cm
Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermartizburg

Two Vanessa Bell paintings of painters painting.

The first painting is from her Asheham House – Bloomsbury days. Virgina Woolf, Lytonn Strachey, Roger Fry, Meynard Keynes… Bloomsbury was a meeting of minds & personalities. Literary, social, artistic & economic questioning & creativity to create one of Britain’s most brilliant schools of painting . A sense of communal purpose… and a disffusion of Modernism into English speaking countries( Roger Fry acquired many avant-garde paintings for various New York museums in his role as advisor).
On or about December 1910, human character changed. – Virgina Woolf.
The second painting is witness to the great friendship between Grant & Bell. They felt free in each other’s company. They painted together. When we look at the exuberance of this ‘colourist’ style of painting, we must try & remember it in it’s Modernist context. Whilst such a style of painting may be relatively wide spread nowadays, when it was painted it was breakthrough stuff. More composed & assured than the french fauvists of 1907 but more vibrant, colourful & freer in handling than most post-cubist work elsewhere of the 1920’s
Rebels of either sex all the world over who in an any way are fighting for freedom of any kind – Frank Rutter, dedication to the pamphlet ‘post Impressionism: Revolution in Art’ 1910
-The flashing brillance…the pidgeon breast radiance  Virgina Woolf, writing in a letter about her sister’s , Vanessa Bell, use of colour.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERNET COLLABORATIVE PROJECT….
Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

All levels welcome, from genius to absolute beginner.

I thought it might be fun to gather together a few of the images from ‘Le Musée Imaginaire’ (André Malraux)

 Posted by

 Leave a Comment

Ed TERPENING : Paintings of painters Painting; Drawings of DraughtsPersons Drwaing

 Posted on June 10, 2008

Ed Terpening “Sue”
12×9″
Oil on Linen

Ed Terpening “Gina”
8 x 6 “
Oil on Linen

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERNET COLLABORATIVE PROJECT….

Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

All levels welcome, from genius to absolute beginner.

I thought it might be fun to gather together a few of the images from ‘Le Musée Imaginaire’ (André Malraux). Images of paintings of painters painting or drawings of draughts-persons drawing. Painting holidays or painting workshops are great occasions to practice this subject.

Do you have an artwork of this type of subject? I’m going to create a static web page for these when I’ve done a ’round-up’. If you’d like to be included, why not send me a web-ready image (72 dpi – 500 pixels largest dimension) (to me at blog365-at-artists-atelier.com), and I’ll include it. Don’t forget to tell me your URL if you want a backlink. It could be fun to get all these images together. Pourquoi pas?

All levels welcome. Preferably your own work. Ongoing Project, no deadline. Please spread the word & pass on the invitation! Everyone welcome.

See the growing collection here :
Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

 Posted by

 1 Comment

J.G.VIBERT – Paintings of Painters Painting; Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

 Posted on June 7, 2008

J-G.VIBERT ‘The Delights of Art’
1896
engraving
This is an illustration for his satrical short story ‘ The Delights of Art’ (The Century magazine, 1896), in which a sun beam discusses with the curtain the merits of the Cardinal’s éclatiste painting ( literally ”dazzlers’ being the name that some critics gave the Impressionists, with their brighter colour & extensive use of low tonal contrast). reproduced in John Cage ‘Colour & Culture’ pp.223.

Vernis de Vibert – Vibert’s Varnish for painting painting

Vibert also has a very good varnish named after him – Lefranc & Bourgouis, I think… Lovely shiny highly transparent varnish that makes the oil painting look wet & fresh. Ages well, I sometimes use it. Good degree of elasticity. I like to imagine that he made the recipe, like Isabey made the brushes, like Cotman made the watecolours… generic names or historical fact?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERNET COLLABORATIVE PROJECT….

Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

All levels welcome, from genius to absolute beginner.

I thought it might be fun to gather together a few of the images from ‘Le Musée Imaginaire’ (André Malraux). Images of paintings of painters painting or drawings of draughts-persons drawing. Painting holidays or painting workshops are great occasions to practice this subject.

Do you have an artwork of this type of subject? I’m going to create a static web page for these when I’ve done a ’round-up’. If you’d like to be included, why not send me a web-ready image (72 dpi – 500 pixels largest dimension) (to me at blog365-at-artists-atelier.com), and I’ll include it. Don’t forget to tell me your URL if you want a backlink. It could be fun to get all these images together. Pourquoi pas?

All levels welcome. Preferably your own work. Ongoing Project, no deadline. Please spread the word & pass on the invitation! Everyone welcome.

 Posted by

 Leave a Comment

Vivienne ‘KITCHEN TABLE SKETCHES’ : Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

 Posted on May 29, 2008

‘Artist Sketching’
Vivienne
pencil in sketchbook

Link to Vivienne’s blog -Kitchen Table Sketches

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERNET COLLABORATIVE PROJECT….

Paintings of Painters Painting : Drawings of Draughts-Persons Drawing

All levels welcome, from genius to absolute beginner. Preferably your own work. Ongoing Project.

I thought it might be fun to gather together a few of the images from ‘Le Musée Imaginaire’ (André Malraux). Images of paintings of painters painting or drawings of draughts-persons drawing. Painting holidays or painting workshops are great occasions to practice this subject.

Do you have an artwork of this type of subject? I’m going to create a static web page for these when I’ve done a ’round-up’. If you’d like to be included, why not send me a web-ready image (72 dpi – 500 pixels largest dimension – please don’t jam up my letter box with heavy files!!) , and I’ll include it. Don’t forget to tell me your URL if you want a backlink. It could be fun to get all these images together. Pourquoi pas?

All levels welcome. Preferably your own work. Ongoing Project. Please spread the word & pass on the invitation! Everyone welcome.

 

 Posted by

 2 Comments

Welcome to Adam Cope’s Blog.

An artist-tutor in south west France ...

-->