Background
He was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, studied with Jean Bremond and was influenced by Alexandre Cabanel.
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Albert Besnard
Edit ProfileEducation
École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
Career
Until about 1880 he followed the academic tradition, but then broke away completely, and devoted himself to the study of colour and light as conceived by the Impressionists. His close analysis of light can be studied in his picture Louisiana 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 and Joshua Reynolds, 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 Madame
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. He succeeded Carolus Duran as director of the Académie française in Rome.
He was represented in the official exhibition of French art held in the United States in 1919-1920 by a symbolic 1917 portrait of Cardinal Mercier.
In 1932, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding member.
Achievements
Membership
Académie française]
In 1912, he became a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts and became director of the École des Beaux Arts in 1922. In 1923 he co-founded the Salon des Tuileries. In 1924 he became a member of the Académie française (Seat #13).
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Born
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Died
December 4, 1934 (aged 85) -
Nationality
France
Awards
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Knight of the Legion of Honour; Commander of the Legion of Honour; Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour; Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour; Prix de Rome Legion of Honour; Prix de Rome
The 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.The 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.