In the Beginning: Ernest Hamlin Baker

Ernest Hamlin Baker (1889-1975) is best known for the many cover illustration he made for Time Magazine 1940-1957.   I first wrote about him here.

A fairly lengthy biographical article about Baker is here.  Among other things, it mentions his time as a student at Colgate University, where he was a Big Man on Campus.

I know it's usually unfair to present artist's early work, but I'll do so now because I happened to come across some illustrations Baker made for the 1912 edition of Salmagundi, the school's yearbook.   Moreover, Baker entered college a few years older than normal, so he was more mature than the usual yearbook's student artist.

(The link has him entering Colgate at age 21, but that does not seem to jibe with the yearbook, whose content suggests he might have been 19 or 20.)

Gallery

An example of Baker's Time cover portraits.

His yearbook entry.  The first set of Greek letters indicates that he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Introductory art for the yearbook's Freshman (entry) class section.   Following are illustrations for other classes and some college activities. 

Although Baker's cartoon style in in line with the fashion of the day, hints of his carefully-drawn later work can be seen here.

In the Beginning: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was a highly talented painter whose reputation, like others of his ilk, suffered with the advent of Modernism and its rise to Establishment status. Fortunately, the pendulum has reversed to the point where his works are increasingly respected.

I've written about him here, here and elsewhere on this blog. His Wikipedia entry is here.

The present post deals with examples of his early work, paintings made before he settled into his mature style and subject matter.

Gallery

Mary Magdalene (Head study) - 1854
Tadema was about 18 years old when he painted this oil-on-paper study. Enlarge to view his brushwork a little better.

Portrait of a man with a ring beard (also known as A man looking up) - 1856
He was about 20 here. A Dutchman, his formal art training was in Antwerp, in the Flemish part of Belgium.

The Blind Beggar - 1856
From about the same time as the previous image. Unlike the study of the man's head, this work is a tightly painted genre image pretty much in line with art fashions of the time.

Faust and Marguerite - 1857
This has a very Flemish feeling to it, not at all what we would expect of Tadema.

Clotilde at the Tomb of Her Grandchildren - 1858
Here too Tadema is both acquiring experience and staying within the artistic norms of those times.

A Bargain (also known as Brabant Women) - 1860
Note the brickwork in the background -- reminds me in a tiny way of Vermeer's portrayal of Delft.

Gunthram Bose and his daughters, AD 572 (also known as The Ambuscade) - 1862
Now for a quick, though transitory, stylistic departure. Again, not the Tadema we know.

Entrance to a Roman Theatre - 1866
Now he is about 30 and following his interest in depicting antiquity as accurately as possible. However, this painting is still somewhat dark and Flemish compared to his mature works.

An Exedra - 1869
Tadema was known for, among other things, his skill at painting marble. This is an early example when he was still learning how to do it convincingly. However, this is not an oil painting, so the medium might be a factor here.

Silver Favorites - 1903
I include this later painting to show his mature style. The image is bright and the marble really looks like marble.

In the beginning: Giovanni Boldini

Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) made a large number of flash-and-dash style society portraits, mostly of women, beginning in the 1890s. Those works are what most of us think of, if we are aware of him. As is usually the case, it took a while before he evolved that style -- the better part of three decades, actually. This post presents some of his earlier paintings, showing some of the variety of styles he used before age 40.

Boldini's Wikipedia entry is here, and includes a large number of images of his work. Like in the Gallery below, they are arranged in approximate chronological order.

Gallery

Cléo de Mérode - 1907
An example of Boldini's mature style. For background on Cléo, click here.

Comotto, the Lawyer - 1865
Painted when Boldini was about 23 years old. Very conventional.

Florence Chambres - 1860s
Another conventional portrait, its date is unknown.

Diego Martelli - 1865
Martelli was a fellow artist. I saw this sketchy portrait at the Pitti Palace in Florence several years ago.

The Art Lover - c. 1866
A more conventional work from about the same time. Boldini was quite capable of making traditional paintings, unlike many later modernists.

Lascaraky Sisters - 1869
Here he shifts to a more thickly painted style where everything seems heavy.

Teasing the Parrot - 1872-74
A few years later he lightens thing up somewhat.

The Hammock - 1872-74
From about the same time. His brushwork is becoming much more evident.

Noonday Promenade, Versailles - 1876
During the late 19th century there was a mini-fad for 18th century court scenes such as this. I wonder if Boldini painted this and a few similarly-themed works to cash in on that fashion.

Conversation at the Café - 1877-78
Here Boldini brings in Spanish-influenced blacks, something he used in a number of later works. The feeling of this painting is coming close to his mature style.

Lady with a Parasol - 1876
This seems to be a sketch or study.  I include it to show that he was experimenting with square-brush technique, an approach later used more consistently by the likes of Leo Putz.

Lady in a Red Jacket - 1878
I'm not positive the date is correct (one has to be cautious of what finds on the internet without corroboration). If it was painted in 1878, this sketchy work comes close to Boldini's classic style.

In the Beginning: Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) seems forever linked to the French Impressionists. Although he was involved with their exhibitions, the styles he used over his career were considerably different from those of Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, archetypical Impressionists. A long Wikipedia entry on Degas is here.

The present post presents some of his earlier paintings, most from when he was under 35 years old. They were painted before the first exhibit of Impressionist works in 1874 the year Degas turned 40, though the movement had begun to form in the early 1860s. Into the 1860s Degas' style tended to be traditional, but not hard-core Academic.

Gallery

René De Gas - c. 1855
The artist's younger brother who later ran up large debts in New Orleans that Edgar took it upon himself to repay.

René-Hillaire De Gas - 1857
Degas' grandfather.

An Old Italian Woman - 1857
He spent the late 1850s in Italy.

The Daughter of Jephtha - 1859-60
A classical theme, but not painted in a truly Academic manner: an academician would consider it "unfinished," which it literally is.

Young Woman with Ibises - 1860-62
Most of the detailing is on her garment. Note the imaginary cityscape in the background -- here Degas seems to be influenced by the Renaissance paintings he studied in Rome.

Portrait of a Lady in Gray - c. 1865
Degas had the habit of not finishing his paintings. Here the woman's face and upper body seem completed, but her arm and hand are sketched in.

The Bellelli Family - 1858-1867
Perhaps Degas' best-known early work, depicting his Italian relatives.

The Cotton Exchange in New Orleans - 1873
Painted years later than the others, but its style remains essentially traditional. However, note what seems to be forced perspective of the room.

Helene Schjerfbeck: From Skilled Realism To ...

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) is widely regarded as one of Finland's most significant artists. I'd put her raw talent up there with that of Albert Edelfelt and Akseli Gallen-Kallela. She was a very good representational painter with a deft brushwork touch, but began to be seduced by Modernism about the time she turned 40. Thereafter, she painted some interesting works along with a number of second-rate derivative ones.

Her background is a little too complicated for this blog post to present, so I encourage you to link to her Wikipedia entry, these comments dealing with a Frankfurt Kunsthalle exhibit, and this rather lengthy and detailed set of observations and biographical items by a Belgian art critic.

The key point to bear in mind is that even though she lived to age 83, Schjerfbeck had poor health for most of her life. A childhood hip injury is mentioned, so perhaps she remained partly crippled. Also mentioned is chronic lack of energy that could have had a different cause.

Below is a chronologically arranged selection of images of her work found here and there on the Internet.

Gallery

On the Jetty - 1879
This is the earliest painting of hers that I could find, made when she was about 17.

Wounded Warrior in the Snow - 1880

Dancing Shoes - 1882
One of her best-known paintings. It sold for £3,044,500 at a 2008 Sotheby's auction.

Portrait of a Child - 1883
Note the brushwork.

Funeral in Brittany - 1884
Schjerfbeck had some art training in Paris and, like a number of other painters, spent some time in Brittany.

Death of Wilhelm von Schwerin - 1886
Perhaps because this kind of thing was expected in those days, she painted a scene from history.

The Seamstress - 1903
During the 1890s Schjerfbeck taught at a Finnish art school and apparently painted little, if what can be found on the Internet is any clue. But here, in her early 40s, we find representation starting to edge away into Modernism.

Costume Picture II (also known as Girl with Orange, The Baker's Daughter) - 1909
By this point, her paintings are becoming more thinly painted and the subjects simplified. I wonder how much of this was modernist influence versus whether this was somewhat due to her limited energy level.

Self-Portrait - 1915
About age 53.

Girl from Eydtkuhnen - 1927
Cubist influence. She did many paintings of women featuring simplified faces similar to what you see here.

Angel Fragment (after El Greco) - 1928
A slight return to her representational roots: nicely done Modernism-lite.

Brown Eyes - 1935-37
Schjerfbeck was aware of art trends outside Finland, but avoided the fashionable Social Realism style during the 1920s and 30s.

Friends - 1942
Age 80, painting very thinly.

Self-Portrait with Red Spot - 1944
One of her last works.