Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA FRS FRSA (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769. BiographyJoshua Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16 July 1723, the third son of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, master of the Plympton Free Grammar School in the town. His father had been a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, but did not send any of his sons to the university. One of his sisters was Mary Palmer (1716–1794), seven years his senior, author of Devonshire Dialogue, whose fondness for drawing is said to have had much influence on him when a boy. In 1740 she provided £60, half of the premium paid to Thomas Hudson the portrait-painter, for Joshua's pupilage, and nine years later advanced money for his expenses in Italy. As a boy, he came under the influence of Zachariah Mudge, whose Platonistic philosophy stayed with him all his life. The work that came to have the most influential impact on Reynolds was Jonathan Richardson's An Essay on the Theory of Painting (1715). Reynolds' annotated copy was lost for nearly two hundred years until it appeared in a Cambridge bookshop, inscribed with the signature ‘J. Reynolds Pictor’, and is now in the collection of the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Having shown an early interest in art, Reynolds was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portrait painter Thomas Hudson, who had been born in Devon. Hudson had a collection of Old Master drawings, including some by Guercino, of which Reynolds made copies. Although apprenticed to Hudson for four years, Reynolds remained with him only until summer 1743. In 1749, Reynolds went to Rome, Italy, where he spent two years, studying the Old Masters and acquiring a taste for the "Grand Style". While in Rome he suffered a severe cold, which left him partially deaf, and, as a result, he began to carry a small ear trumpet with which he is often pictured. Reynolds travelled homeward overland via Florence, Bologna, Venice, and Paris. Following his arrival in England in October 1752, Reynolds spent three months in Devon, before establishing himself in London, where he remained for the rest of his life. He achieved success rapidly, and was extremely prolific. Lord Edgecumbe recommended the Duke of Devonshire and Duke of Grafton to sit for him, and other peers followed, including the Duke of Cumberland, third son of George II. In 1760 Reynolds moved into a large house, with space to show his works and accommodate his assistants, on the west side of Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square). Alongside ambitious full-length portraits, Reynolds painted large numbers of smaller works. In the late 1750s, at the height of the social season, he received five or six sitters a day, each for an hour. Reynolds often adapted the poses of his subjects from the works of earlier artists. By 1761 Reynolds could command a fee of 80 guineas for a full-length portrait; in 1764 he was paid 100 guineas for a portrait of Lord Burghersh. The clothing of Reynolds' sitters was usually painted by either one of his pupils, his studio assistant Giuseppe Marchi, or the specialist drapery painter Peter Toms. Lay figures were used to model the clothes. Reynolds also was recognized for his portraits of children. He emphasized the innocence and natural grace of children when depicting them. His 1788 portrait, Age of Innocence(it will become the title of Edith Wharthon's book Age of Innocence published in 1920), is his best known character study of a child. The subject of the painting is not known, although conjecture includes Theophila Gwatkin, his great niece, and Lady Anne Spencer, the youngest daughter of the fourth Duke of Marlborough. Although not known principally for his landscapes, Reynolds did paint in this genre. He had an excellent vantage from his house, Wick House, on Richmond Hill, and painted the view in about 1780. Reynolds worked long hours in his studio, rarely taking a holiday. He was gregarious and keenly intellectual, with many friends from London's intelligentsia, numbered amongst whom were Dr Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, Giuseppe Baretti, Henry Thrale, David Garrick, and artist Angelica Kauffman. Because of his popularity as a portrait painter, Reynolds enjoyed constant interaction with the wealthy and famous men and women of the day, and it was he who brought together the figures of "The" Club. It was founded in 1764 and met in a suite of rooms on the first floor of the Turks Head at 9 Gerrard Street, now marked by a plaque. Original members included Burke, Bennet Langton, Topham Beauclerk, Goldsmith, Anthony Chamier, Thomas Hawkins, and Nugent, to be joined by Garrick, Boswell, and Sheridan. In ten years the membership had risen to 35. The Club met every Monday evening for supper and conversation and continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning. In later years, it met fortnightly during Parliamentary sessions. Reynolds was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Arts, helped found the Society of Artists of Great Britain, and in 1768 became the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he was to hold until his death. In 1769, he was knighted by George III, only the second artist to be so honoured. His Discourses, a series of lectures delivered at the Academy between 1769 and 1790, are remembered for their sensitivity and perception. In one lecture he expressed the opinion that "invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory." Waddesdon manor was amongst the historic houses that supported Sir Joshua Reynolds's influence at the academy, acknowledging how: "[He] transformed British painting with portraits and subject pictures that engaged their audience's knowledge, imagination, memory and emotions... As an eloquent teacher and art theorist, he used his role at the head of the Royal Academy to raise the status of art and artists of Britain. " On 10 August 1784 Allan Ramsay died and the office of Principal Painter in Ordinary to King George III became vacant. Thomas Gainsborough felt that he had a good chance of securing it, but Joshua Reynolds felt he deserved it and threatened to resign the presidency of the Royal Academy if he did not receive it. Reynolds noted in his pocket book: "Sept. 1, 2½, to attend at the Lord Chancellor's Office to be sworn in painter to the King". It did not make Reynolds happy, however, as he wrote to Boswell: "If I had known what a shabby miserable place it is, I would not have asked for it; besides as things have turned out I think a certain person is not worth speaking to, nor speaking of", presumably meaning the king. Reynolds wrote to Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St Asaph, a few weeks later: "Your Lordship congratulation on my succeeding Mr. Ramsay I take very kindly, but it is a most miserable office, it is reduced from two hundred to thirty-eight pounds per annum, the Kings Rat catcher I believe is a better place, and I am to be paid only a fourth part of what I have from other people, so that the Portraits of their Majesties are not likely to be better done now, than they used to be, I should be ruined if I was to paint them myself". In 1789, Reynolds lost the sight of his left eye, which forced him into retirement. In 1791 James Boswell dedicated his Life of Samuel Johnson to Reynolds. In June 1791 Reynolds suffered from a swelling over his left eye and had to be purged by a surgeon. In October he was too ill to take the president's chair. On 5 November Reynolds, fearing he might not have an opportunity to write a will, wrote a memorandum intended to be his last will and testament, with Edmund Burke, Edmond Malone, and Philip Metcalfe named as executors. On New Year's Day 1792 Reynolds became "seized with sickness" and from that point could not keep down food. Reynolds died on 23 February 1792 at his house in Leicester Fields in London between eight and nine in the evening. Edmund Burke was present on the night Reynolds died, and was moved within hours to write a eulogy of Reynolds starting with the following sentiments: "Sir Joshua Reynolds was on very many accounts one of the most memorable men of his Time. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant Arts to the other Glories of his Country. In Taste, in grace, in facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and Harmony of colouring, he was equal to the great masters of the renowned Ages." Burke's tribute was well received and one journalist called it "the eulogium of Apelles pronounced by Pericles". Reynolds was buried at St Paul's Cathedral. In 1903, a statue, by Alfred Drury, was erected in his honour in Annenberg Courtyard of Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy. Around the statue are fountains and lights, installed in 2000, arranged in the pattern of a star chart at midnight on the night of Reynolds' birth. The planets are marked by granite discs, and the Moon by a water recess. The Royal Academy of Art in London celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2018, since its opening in 1768. This became an impetus for galleries and museums across the UK to celebrate "the making, debating and exhibiting art at the Royal Academy".
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Herminia Elena Josefa Rodríguez-Borrell Feijoo was born in Camariñas, La Coruña, Galicia, Spain in 1897, in a family which got wealthy from sugar business in Cuba, with several properties in Galicia. His parents Máximo and Maria Luisa decided that she should learn English and sent her to London accompanied by her aunt Lala. But there Herminia became fascinated by the high society life and enjoyed shopping, diners and parties. And it was there in 1918, she met a German multimillionaire Nubar Gulbenkian, son of Calouste Gulbenkian, a legendary businessman and philanthropist who had made his fortune in the oil business, and one of the richest men in the world at the time. The Gulbenkian family lived in London with properties in Paris and Côte d'Azur. It was love at first sight. After 3 three years of dating, they married in 1922 London in a civil ceremony, in "Prince's Row Registry Office", with only Herminia's mather and her aunt present. It was followed with another ceremony according to German customs in a suite in Hotel Ritz in Picadilly, where Nubar lived at the time. After their marriage, the couple lived the high life in London, driving around Europe in their Rolls-Royce and drinking Champagne in Buckinghame Palace with the royalty. But the idyllic life did not last long. Sometimes after the couple moved from Ritz to a home in Park Lane, Nubar began to be unfaithful to Herminia, which she could not tolerate. Her early years in London had transformed her into one of those modern and daring women. In fact, she became the first Spanish woman ever to have a driving license. At the end of the 20s, Herminia asked for divorce and returned to La Coruña, thus becoming one of the few Spanish women who divorced from their husbands. At just 30 years old, Herminia was famous, beautiful, and rich, with 300 dollars per month provided by her husband and all the jewelleries she took with her while leaving him. Although she had been away for many years, she was quickly integrated into the high society life of La Coruña and caused sensation with her beauty, elegance and her arrogance. There she lived as she pleased. She worn trousers, rode bicycle and played tennis , She bought a motorcycle and owned two boats which were docked at the Real Club Náutico. She lived in palace in Sigrás, where she collected art works as as well local craftworks, such as Camariñas laces. Herminia lived in luxury and parties. Thus passed the years until her health worsened as she got older. In February 1971, she was discovered sleeping in her by now ruined palace, dirty, malnourished and delirious. She was taken to the hospital but there was nothing to be done for her. Herminia Borrell died on 18 February 1971, and was buried in the Municipal Cemetery of San Amaro of Coruña. The Times published an obituary of her calling her "Spanish Beauty." In his memoirs Portrait in Oil published in 1965, her ex-husband Nubar Gulbenkian thus described her:
"Whenever we were in a restaurant, our table would become the center of attention. Herminia attracted attention because of her beauty typically Spanish, because of her black hair parted in the middle and gathered at the nape. It looked extremely attractive." Louis Süe (14 July 1875 – 7 August 1968) was a French painter, architect, designer and decorator. He and André Mare co-founded the Compagnie des arts français, which produced Art Deco furniture and interior decorations for wealthy customers. He also designed buildings and interiors, including the interiors of two passenger liners. Louis Süe né à Bordeaux le 14 juillet 1875 et mort à Paris le 7 août 1968 est un peintre, architecte et décorateur français. BiographyMarie-Louis Süe was born on 14 July 1875 in Bordeaux, the son of a wine merchant of the city, and the grand nephew of the writer Eugène Sue. After graduating from secondary school he entered the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris to prepare for the École Polytechnique. However, in 1893 he left Sainte-Barbe and entered the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied painting in the studio of Victor Laloux (1850–1937). During this period he also explored architectural design, and was awarded medals for his work. He gained his diploma in 1901. Süe made friends at the Beaux-Arts with the painters Pierre Bonnard, Roger de La Fresnaye, André Derain and André Dunoyer de Segonzac. In 1902 the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne showed his work. Süe's work always combined an understanding and respect for traditional forms with a willingness to explore the new. Starting in 1903 Süe and Paul Huillard collaborated in building artists' workshops and buildings in Paris on the Rue Cassini, Boulevard Raspail and Boulevard du Montparnasse. In 1910 Süe travelled with Paul Poiret to Vienna to visit the Wiener Werkstätte. Süe was exposed to cubism around 1910, and this influenced his architectural designs. He exhibited a complete room setting at the 1910 Salon d'Automne, and would participate in the Paris Salons through the rest of his career. Süe and Huillard ended their partnership in 1912. Süe joined other artists to create L'Atalier Français, a cooperative business that borrowed organizational idea from the Wiener Werkstätte. The members included Süe, Roger de La Fresnaye, André Groult, Gustave Louis Jaulmes (1873–1959), and the brothers André and Paul Vera. André Vera wrote a manifesto that defined the goal of the group as combining traditional and modern ideas to bring clarity, order and aesthetic unity to interior design. Süe helped decorate Groult's house. During the war the Atelier was dissolved. Süe was drafted into the army and served in the south of Greece. Louis Süe, André Mare and Gustave Jaulmes collaborated in 1919 in decorating the victory festivals in Paris. In 1919 Süe and André Mare founded the Compagnie des arts français (French Arts Company) and in 1921 published their first designs of furniture, wallpaper, tapestries, silverware and ceramics. The company employed many artists and craftsmen to meet the needs of their sophisticated and wealthy clientele for interior decoration. The Metropolitan Museum acquired examples of their furniture as early as 1923. Their Art Deco works, typically with flower designs, were both elegant and practical. Süe and Mare decorated interiors such as the Polish Embassy in Paris and the home of Jean Patou. In their joint work Architectures (1921) Sue and Mare asserted that Art Nouveau was based on a synthesis of fine and decorative arts. Their commercial designs often had simplified forms with rich materials. In 1922 Süe designed the industrial town of Lens-Méricourt for the French Northern Railway company. In 1922 the Compagnie des arts français obtained financial support from Gaston Monteux, owner of the Raoul shoe firm. Süe and Mare worked together again for the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris, where they built a contemporary art museum and the Fountain pavilion on the Esplanade des Invalides. They showed a luxurious room in the grand salon with furniture, carpet, wallpaper and decorations in new forms linked to traditional designs. They also collaborated that year on the interior decoration of the SS Île de France. Louis Süe (or Süe and Mare), designed all the perfume bottles and boxes for Jean Patou. They also designed bottles for other perfumers, including the bottle for "Le Dandy" of D'Orsay. Monteux sold the Compagnie des arts français to the Galeries Lafayette department store in 1928. The new owners brought in Jacques Adnet, a modernist designer, and Sue and Mare left the firm due to disagreement with Adnet. After leaving the Compagnie des arts français Louis Süe worked as an independent architect-decorator, and designed buildings for various well-known figures. Between 1929 and 1931 he built a Basque villa in Ustaritz for Jean Patou. Between 1934 and 1937 he reconstructed a run-down building for Helena Rubinstein on the Quai de Béthune in Paris, converting it into an elegant and luxurious mansion. He also landscaped Rubinstein's beauty institute on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. He entered the competition to camouflage the Trocadéro palace for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne of 1937, and collaborated with Jean and Édouard Niermans in building the theater of the new palace. Süe was treasurer of the Société des artistes décorateurs from 1936 to 1937. In 1939 he was named president of the Société des artistes décorateurs. For its Salon he designed a street's decorations and the Helena Rubinstein and Louis Süe booths. He built the French Village for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Süe lived in Istanbul and lectured at the Institute of Fine Arts during World War II (1939–45). After the war he built an industrial town in Rupt-sur-Moselle, Vosges, the Museum of the Annunciation in Saint-Tropez, and many villas and private residences. He also created theater sets and interior decorations, including the interior of the SS Jean-Mermoz in 1957. Louis Süe died in Paris on 7 August 1968. BiographieLouis Süe est issu d'une famille de négociants en vin de la région bordelaise. Il est le fils aîné d'Henri Marie Sidonius Süe et de son épouse Marie-Élisa Mathilde Süe, née Paulet. Il aura un frère. Il est l'arrière-petit-neveu de l'écrivain Eugène Sue et compte dans sa famille des médecins célèbres. Après des études au lycée de Bordeaux, Louis Süe entre au collège Sainte-Barbe à Paris. Il prépare l'École polytechnique, puis abandonne pour devenir, en 1893, l'élève de l'architecte Victor Laloux à l'École des beaux-arts de Paris. Il présente un projet de gymnase au concours de 1re classe et obtient une première seconde médaille. Il a pour professeur de théorie Georges Gromort. Il est diplômé architecte DPLG en juin 1901, et commence à construire en 1903. En collaboration avec l'architecte Paul Huillard, il réalise à partir de 1903 à Paris des ateliers d'artistes et immeubles de rapport, rue Cassini, boulevard Raspail, et boulevard du Montparnasse. Leur agence est installée au 17, rue Boissonade à Paris. Puis à partir de 1906, ils ouvrent une agence au 81, rue Madame et en 1912, une au 27, quai Voltaire. Il se lie avec André Groult et Paul Poiret avant le début de la Première Guerre mondiale. Il participe à la décoration de la maison de ce dernier, qui accueille les défilés du célèbre couturier. En 1914, il demeure au 124, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré à Paris. Il est mobilisé dans l'armée d'Orient. Il épouse en premières noces Hélène Marie Aline Macqueron en 1916, qui lui donnera un fils. Il divorce en 1919 et épouse en secondes noces Suzanne Julia Béringuet, artiste peintre, sœur de François Berouard(1884-1949, un éditeur français du début du XXᵉ siècle, également poète et dramaturge). Louis Süe est un grand sportif qui pratique la course à pied, le tennis, l'aviron, la voile, le saut en hauteur et la natation. Il est l'ami et l'amant de la danseuse américaine Isadora Duncan, dont il tente en vain de sauver de la noyade les deux enfants bloqués dans leur voiture tombée dans la Seine. En rupture avec l'Art nouveau, il fonde l'Atelier français, rue de Courcelles avec Drésa, André Mare, qui expose, en 1912, sa maison cubiste, et Roger de La Fresnaye, puis il fonde la Compagnie des arts français en 1919 avec André Mare, avec lequel après la guerre ils réalisent le décor des fêtes de la Victoire à Paris en compagnie du peintre Gustave Jaulmes. À la suite d'éditions de meubles en série, la Compagnie des arts français connaît des difficultés financières et est rachetée en 1922 par Gaston Monteux, industriel, fabricant de chaussures et propriétaire des magasins de chaussures Raoul. Habitué de la Closerie des Lilas, il y rencontre ses amis Claude Debussy, André Gide, Charles Guérin, Pierre Louÿs, André Mare, et les peintres Pierre Bonnard, André Derain, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, etc. Louis Süe et André Mare réalisent le pavillon du musée d'Art contemporain.
Il dessine des flacons de parfum pour la maison Jean Patou, et, entre 1934 et 1937, il est l'architecte du 24, quai de Béthune à Paris sur l'île Saint-Louis, commande de l'industrielle des cosmétiques Helena Rubinstein. On lui confie en 1937 la réalisation de la décoration du foyer du théâtre du palais de Chaillot. Associé avec son neveu Gilbert Olivier Süe, ils s'installent au 122, rue de Grenelle, de 1952 à sa mort en 1968. |
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