Gustav Colin
little flower girl
Oil on canvas, circa 1880 Dimensions: 61 x 50 cm With frame: 86 x 75 cm
sold
The painter represents a delicately painted young girl. The child stares at the viewer. The atmosphere is summery: she is represented with a large bouquet of wildflowers and an elegant straw hat decorated with a ribbon. The painter’s gesture is lively; his subject, quickly painted, with a lifted touch. Gustave Colin painted portraits, landscapes of Parisian life and scenes typical of Mediterranean folklore. Its colors are warm; his paste, free, strong and broadly brushed, brings audacity to his paintings. He was a pupil of Constant Dutilleux in Arras then of Ary Scheffer, Thomas Couture and Camille Corot in Paris, of whom he will keep a strong impression. He began his career at the Salon of 1857. He received awards on several occasions, including the gold medal in 1900. In 1863, he exhibited at the Salon des Refusés alongside Manet, who for the occasion unveiled his famous painting, Luncheon on the Grass . In 1874, the painter participated in the first exhibition of the Impressionists, he exhibited five paintings. Happy to have learned and eager to transmit, he is a professor at the Académie Julian in Paris. Although originally from northern France, he lived in the Basque country, which inspired many of his paintings. Museums : – In Paris: Musée d’Orsay – In France: Musée des beaux-arts de Pau, Musée Crozatier à Le-Puy-en-Velay, Musée de la Chartreuse de Douai, Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille, Musée des beaux-arts de Reims, Musée Antoine Vivenel de Compiègne, Musée basque et de l’histoire de Bayonne, Musée des beaux-arts de Lille. Bibliography: – Hans Peter Bühler, “Colin Gustave”, Allgemeines Kunsterlexikon, 1998 – Gérard Schurr, Pierre Cabane, Dictionnaire des petits maîtres de la peinture, 1820-1920, t. II, Paris, Editions of the amateur, 1996
