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PERSPECTIVE
DRAWING 12

Gustave
Caillebotte (1848 -1894)
Biography
Gustave
Caillebotte was the artist who created the painting we used as our
example on the previous page. Born into a wealthy Parisian family,
he trained as a naval architect and engineer, but also studied painting
at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. When his father died, his inheritance
allowed him to act as a patron and promote the work of the Impressionists.
He not only bought and collected their works, but also paid for
their framing and gallery space. On his death, he donated his outstanding
collection of Impressionist paintings to the French state. It now
hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
Caillebotte
was a considerable artist in his own right. Although he exhibited
in three of the great Impressionist exhibitions (1879, 1880, 1882)
and is normally associated with the Impressionist movement, his
style takes a departure from the norm. His subjects are images of
contemporary Parisian society, but what makes them different and
appealing to the modern eye is their distinctive viewpoints and
formally organised compositions. In training as a naval architect,
a sense of economy in the construction of space would become instinctive.
He applies this economy of design to the architecture of his paintings.
He creates a strange fusion of Impressionism with the academic which
gives his work its unique character.
In
the first half of the 20th century Caillebotte was only considered
to be a minor artist. However, time has changed our appreciation
of his talent and a reappraisal of his work over the last few decades
has enhanced his reputation. Consequently, several of his works
now stand equal in status with the best of Impressionist painting.
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