Paul Peel (7 November 1860 – 3 October 1892) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

figure painter. Having won a medal at the 1890

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

, he became one of the first Canadian artists to receive international recognition in his lifetime.

Career and life

Peel was born in London,

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

, and received his art training from his father from a young age. His sister Mildred Peel was also an artist. Later he studied with William Lees Judson and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...

(1877-1880). Like fellow graduates of the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts and students of Eakins, Paul subscribed to a tonal method of rendering natural light outdoors. He moved to Paris in 1881, France where he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Decoratifs, later enrolling in the atelier of

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

at the École des Beaux-Arts. It was at the recommendation of Gérôme that he began sketching outdoors. He studied afterwards with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant in his private atelier and then with him at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

as well as with Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre (1877-1890). In 1883, he exhibited his first painting at the Paris Salon, where he would continue to exhibit regularly until 1892. His paintings have a conservative quality, but a few later works reveal that he was a convert to

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

colour and light. In 1882, he married Isaure Verdier. They had two children: a son (Robert Andre, in 1886) and a daughter (Emilie Marguerite, in 1888). Peel travelled widely in Canada and in Europe, exhibiting as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...

. He also exhibited at international shows like the

, where he won a bronze medal in 1890 for his painting ''After the Bath''. He was known for his often sentimental nudes and for his pictures of the charm of children. Childhood effectively became the artist's "brand" with the public success of ''After the Bath''. He was also among the first Canadian painters to explore the nude as a subject. He contracted a lung infection and died in his sleep, in Paris, France, at the age of 31. His childhood home is one of the many attractions at the Fanshawe Pioneer Village in London, Ontario.

Major works

Listed chronologically: *''Devotion'' (1881) *''Listening to the Skylark'' (1884) *''Mother and Child'' (1888) *'' The Young Botanist'' (1888–1890) *''A Venetian Bather'' 1889 *''Portrait of Gloria Roberts'' (1889) *''After the Bath'' (1890) *''The Young Biologist'' (1891) *''The Little Shepherdess'' (1892) *''Robert Andre Peel'' (c. 1892) *''Bennett Jull'' (1889–1890) Paul Peel - Adoration - Google Art Project

Paul Peel - Adoration - Google Art Project

Record sale prices

At the June 8, 2023, Cowley Abbott auction Artwork from an Important Private Collection - Part II, ''The Young Gleaner'' (1888), oil on canvas, 33 x 23.25 ins ( 83.8 x 59.1 cms ), Auction Estimate: $150,000.00 - $200,000.00, realized a price of $408,000.00.

References

Bibliography

* Victoria Baker, ''Paul Peel: A Retrospective, 1860-1892'' (London Regional Art Gallery: London ON, 1986) * * *

External links

Biography at the ''Canadian Encyclopedia''Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
at the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

, Ottawa, Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Peel, Paul 1860 births 1892 deaths 19th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Artists from London, Ontario Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Canadian alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Académie Julian alumni Pont-Aven painters Students of Thomas Eakins Canadian Impressionist painters 19th-century Canadian male artists Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts