First of all, to any baking followers I may have – there will be another baking-themed post coming up very shortly, so there is not much more of my aimless attempts to fill up posts to put up with. Hurray!
I still have a post to do before then though, and this week I decided to expand on the comment I made in my last entry about the impressionistic qualities of the photo I took at home being apt. This is because I live in France – to be specific, in the Pays des Impressionistes where a large number of Impressionist works were painted.
This fact would probably be just about the extent of my knowledge on the matter if I hadn’t ended up taking History of Art (somewhat reluctantly) when at school. We learnt about Italian Renaissance works and other areas of French art history, but the local draw meant that Impressionism had by far the most appeal to me. But whilst most of you will have heard of the likes of Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, you may not have heard about my favourite Impressionist, who I ended up doing my project on – Alfred Sisley. Which is why I am writing this blog about him.
Alfred Sisley was born in Paris but his parents were British. Sisley himself remained a British citizen his whole life, having failed to acquire French nationality. He was involved in the Impressionism movement right from the beginning, having trained in the same studio as Monet, Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, a painter who died in the Franco-Prussian War. Yet for various reasons, he never achieved quite the fame of his counterparts. Some who watched the BBC miniseries The Impressionists may not know his name – he was among the artists they chose to cut out.
Sisley’s subject matter, which mainly consisted of landscapes, has sometimes been branded as safe and uninteresting. This I feel is somewhat unfair, as attempting to make something as supposedly dull as a landscape grab the viewer’s attention is a risk in itself. The slight underdog vibe with Sisley, along with his British heritage, is probably what helped draw my interest to him.
That is not to say that I was not also drawn to his work. I really do like his landscapes. Despite having studied History of Art I’m really no good at talking about it, but there is something quite understated about them (for want of a better word) that I find refreshing. I think possibly my favourite Impressionist work of all is his 1878 Snow at Louveciennes. Winter is my favourite time of year so that is a big plus, but I also love the use of colour in the work.
Don’t get me wrong – Alfred Sisley is not some little-known artist I am proclaiming to have discovered. His work is greatly admired and his canvases sell for millions today. Likewise, I do not like his work at the sake of all other artists – I have one Impressionist poster up in my uni digs, and it is a Monet. I just think it is a shame that more of the wider public in this country in particular do not know of Alfred Sisley and his work, which is why I have written my blog post about him.
I have realised that I have not yet demonstrated my ability to link in my mad blogging skills repetoire, so this is the perfect opportunity to direct you to the Pays des Impressionistes website and that of the Musée d’Orsay, which houses most of the Sisley’s I’ve seen.
Katie
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