Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (17 June 1850 – 21 October 1916) was a French painter born and raised in Paris, where he became a prominent academic painter and a teacher. He is principally known for the links he created between French and Japanese art, in both painting and ceramics.

Early life

Collin studied at the school of Saint-Louis, then went to Verdun where he was at school with Jules Bastien-Lepage; they became close friends. Collin then went to Paris and studied in the atelier of

Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

and then joined Lepage at Alexandre Cabanel's atelier where they both worked alongside Fernand Cormon,

Aimé Morot Aimé Nicolas Morot (16 June 1850 – 12 August 1913) was a French painter and sculptor in the Academic Art style. Biography Aimé Nicolas Morot, son of François-Aimé Morot and Catherine-Elisabeth Mansuy, was born in Rue d'Amerval 4 in Nancy ...

and Benjamin Constant. Collin painted still-lives, nudes, portraits and genre pieces, and preferred to render his subjects en plein air with a clear and luminous palette.

Career

Around 1873 he began successfully exhibiting at the Salon. He won a number of prizes that helped launch his career, and before long he was receiving increasingly prestigious commissions to paint large scale murals in major public buildings around Paris, including some of the most prominent cultural centers of Paris: the Hôtel de Ville, the Théatre de l'éon, and the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

. He provided designs for decorative plates made by Théodore Deck. Collin's early work closely followed the essential tenets of French academism. Like the Renaissance painters they admired, the nineteenth-century academicians used historical, religious, or allegorical painting to communicate an idea. Within the parameters of this literary art, Collin made subtle modifications to the accepted academic style, introducing elements of the impressionist technique into his allegorical scenes. Such formal techniques as formal composition and bright color evoked the light filled landscapes of impressionism rather than the dark chiaroscuro of Renaissance painting. During the last few decades of the nineteenth century, academic painting in France was in crisis, eclipsed by the new artistic movements of impressionism and symbolism. Collin's friendship with members of the impressionists provided him with insights into the new direction contemporary painting was taking. He adapted his work accordingly and in such paintings as ''Young Woman'', he found a compromise between the academic style and the new painterly innovations of the impressionists and the Nabis. Collin began to emphasize the picture surface by reducing the spatial depth of his paintings as well as composing with areas of concentrated color. Yet he never completely abandoned the hallmarks of academicism: allegory and naturalism. Daphnis-chloe-cover

Collin figured prominently in artistic exchanges between Paris and Tokyo during the late nineteenth century as Kuroda Seiki, Kume Keiichirō, and Okada Saburōsuke, among others, studied in his studio and at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

, where Collin was associated. Kuroda and Kume, who subsequently assumed professorships at the Tokyo Fine Arts School (Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō), were especially instrumental in introducing to Japan Collin's academic teaching methods as well as the lighter palette, brushwork, and plein air approach he espoused. This mentorship of the first generation of Japanese oil painters contributed to the special respect he continues to enjoy in Japan. Collin also illustrated many books, notably ''Daphnis and Chloé'' (1890) and ''

Chansons de Bilitis ''The Songs of Bilitis'' (; french: Les Chansons de Bilitis) is a collection of erotic, essentially lesbian, poetry by Pierre Louÿs published in Paris in 1894. Since Louÿs claimed that he had translated the original poetry from Ancient Greek, t ...

'' (1906).

Honours

* 1889 Grand Prix, Exposition Universelle * 1894 Officier of the Légion d'honneur * Chevalier of the order of St Michael of Bavaria *

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

of Japan

Gallery

File:CollinsDeckPlate.jpg, Théodore Deck plate,
decorated by Collin,
Musée du Petit Palais, Paris File:Plate, Joseph Theodore Deck - Indianapolis Museum of Art - DSC00669.JPG, Théodore Deck plate,
decorated by Collin,
Indianapolis Museum of Art File:Raphaël Collin Le départ.png, Departure, lithographic print from

L'Estampe Moderne ''L'Estampe Moderne'' appeared in 1897-1899 as a series of 24 monthly fascicles, each of 4 original lithographs, priced at 3 francs 50 centimes and printed by Imprimerie Champenois of Paris. Many accomplished European Art Nouveau painters contri ...

File:Raphael Collin - La Chanson Legere.jpg, The Light Song, decoration for the comic opera

Principal works

* ''Idylle'', 1875 * ''Daphnis & Chloé'', 1877 (exhibited at the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle, Alençon) * ''Portrait of the artist’s father'', 1887 * ''Portrait of M S Hayem'', 1879 * ''Portrait of Mlle C'', 1880 * ''La Musique'', 1880 * ''Petits portraits en plein air'', 1881 * ''Idylle'', 1882 * ''Été'', 1884 * ''Floréal'', 1886 * ''Fin d’été & Jeunesse Sorbonne'', 1889 * ''Plafond pour l’Odéon'', 1891 * ''Au bord de la mer'', 1892

References

* Edition: Guth, Christine M.E., Volk, Alicia, Yamanashi, Emiko, ''Japan & Paris: Impressionism, Postimpressionism, and the Moderne Era'', Honolulu Academy of Arts, 15 September 2004;
Obituary

External links

* * Jennifer A. Thompson, �
''Morning'' by Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (inv. 2956)
” in
The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works
', a Philadelphia Museum of Art free digital publication {{DEFAULTSORT:Collin, Raphael 1850 births 1916 deaths French muralists École des Beaux-Arts alumni French ceramists 19th-century French painters French male painters French Symbolist painters French portrait painters 19th-century French illustrators 20th-century French illustrators 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Painters from Paris Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun 19th-century French male artists