Paul-Albert Besnard (2 June 1849 – 4 December 1934) was a French

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

Albert Besnard devant le portrait de sa femme

Biography

Besnard was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and studied at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

, studied with Jean Bremond and was influenced by

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French Painting, painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the Academic art, academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. He was Napoleon ...

. He won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

in 1874 with the painting ''Death of Timophanes''. On 19 November 1879 he married the sculptor Charlotte Dubray (1854–1931). They had four children, of whom three were artists. Until about 1880 he followed the

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

tradition, but then broke away completely, and devoted himself to the study of colour and light as conceived by the Impressionists. The realism of this group never appealed to his bold imagination, but he applied their technical method to ideological and decorative works on a large scale, such as his

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es at the Sorbonne, the Ecole de Pharmacie, the ceiling of the Comédie-Française (main theatre in Paris), the Salle des Sciences at the Hôtel de Ville, the ''mairie'' of the 1st arrondissement, and the chapel of Berck hospital, for which he painted twelve Stations of the Cross in an entirely modern spirit. A great virtuoso, he achieved brilliant successes alike in

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

, oil and

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

, both in portraiture, in landscape and in decoration. His close analysis of light can be studied in his picture ''La femme qui se chauffe'' at the Luxembourg in Paris, one of a large group of nude studies of which a later example is ''Une Nymphe au bord de la mer''; and in the work produced during and after a visit to India in 1911. A large panel, ''Peace by Arbitration'', was completed seven days before the outbreak of war in 1914. Partly under the influence of

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...

and

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

, whom he studied during a three-years stay in England, he applied his methods to a brilliant series of portraits, especially of women. Notable among these are the ''Portrait de Théâtre'' ( Madame Réjane), and ''Mme. Roger Jourdain''. The former is a good example of his daring unconventionality. A later work is ''The King and Queen of Belgium'' (1919). His landscape work is represented by ''L'ile heureuse'', and ''Un Ruisseau dans la Montagne'' (1920). A symbolist in his decorative work, Besnard's frank delight in the external world and his “chic” luminous technique bring him close to the 18th-century French painters. A foundation member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890, in 1913 he became a member of the Institute. He succeeded Carolus Duran as director of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in Rome. In 1912, he became a member of the French

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

and became director of the École des Beaux Arts in 1922. In 1923 he co-founded the Salon des Tuileries. He was represented in the official exhibition of French art held in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1919-20 by a symbolic 1917 portrait of Cardinal Mercier. An important exhibition of his works was shown in different cities of the United States in 1924.

Honours

* 1907 : Member of the

Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium ( , sometimes referred to as ' ) is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Community of Belgium. One of Belgium's numerous academies, it is the French-speak ...

.Index biographique des membres et associés de l'Académie royale de Belgique (1769-2005) p. 29 * commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

* Member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts * 1924 : member of the

(Seat #13). * 1932: Honorary Corresponding member of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

Gallery

File:Henriette_Jourdain-Paul_Besnard.jpg, ''Portrait of Madame Roger Jourdain (Henriette Jourdain)'', oil on canvas, 1886 File:Albert Besnard, Morphine Addicts (Morphinomanes), 1887, NGA 4624.jpg, ''Morphine Addicts (Morphinomanes)'',

, 1887 Image:Portrait of the Kharitonenko sisters.jpg, ''Portrait of the Kharitonenko Sisters'', oil on canvas, 1903, at the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...

File:Besnard pensive.jpg, ''Femme pensive dans un sofa'', pastel, 1890 File:Albert (Paul Albert Besnard Besnard dit) - Esquisse pour l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris , La Vérité entraînant les Sciences à sa suite répand sa lum - PPP2046 - Petit Palais.jpg, ''The Truth leading the Sciences in its wake spreads its light'' File:Albert (Paul Albert Besnard Besnard dit) - La Mystique, esquisse de la composition d'ensemble - PDUT2170 - Petit Palais.jpg, ''The Mystique'' (1908), depicting the Coronation of the Virgin File:Albert Besnard, A Martyr, 1883, NGA 4618.jpg, ''A Martyr''

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Short biography in French
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Besnard, Paul Albert 1849 births 1934 deaths Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Painters from Paris 19th-century French painters 19th-century French male artists French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Prix de Rome for painting French Impressionist painters Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Members of the Académie Française Honorary members of the Royal Academy