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Lot Essay
Born in Australia to a wealthy engineering family, John Peter Russell emigrated to London in 1880, aged 22, where he studied at the Slade School of Art. Four years later, Russell's artistic ambitions precipitated another move, this time to Paris, where he witnessed at first hand the emergence of Impressionism through his association with artists including Rodin, Van Gogh and Monet, and through viewing exhibitions hosted by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the private gallery of Paul Durand-Ruel.
Categorising the Impressionist artists in 1887 as "Darned fools spotting canvas with small points of pure colour. Tis as fashionable as gulls' wings for hats", by around 1891 Russell's views had softened: "I think Impressionism wins because of the number of recruits. As understood here, it consists not of hasty sketches but in finished work in which the purity of colour and intention is kept." (in A. Galbally, The Art of John Peter Russell, Melbourne, 1977, p.95). Russell explained his criticism more precisely in a letter to Vincent Van Gogh in 1888, in which he wrote of Monet's work: "Very fine in colour and light of a certain richness of envelop. But like all the so-called impressionist work the form is not enough studied a lack of construction everywhere." (D. Finley, John Peter Russell, Australia Impressionist, London, unpaginated)
Despite his desire to retain a logical structure in his paintings, fostered by his early training at the Slade School and his admiration for the precisely-painted work of the Neo-Classical artists, John Peter Russell called himself a 'painter of nature, of nature's moods, of sunlight and the changing temper of the sea'. The objective of translating the light and colour of nature in its purest form onto canvas, was decisive in Russell's decision in 1888 to move with his wife Marianna to Belle-Ile, a small island off the south coast of Brittany.
In his Belle-Ile paintings, Russell's palette was principally based on ultramarine, with purple and pinks used sparingly to delineate rocks and soil. In contrast, the artist's visits to Nice and Antibes after 1890 reveal "a higher chromatic intensity than the Belle-Ile studies painted in the gentler Atlantic light Forms are uncomplicated and of minimal importance within the picture structure, working as controlling edges and boundaries for the free flow of the colour.". (A. Galbally, op. cit., p.76). Russell would remain preoccupied by the desire to replicate the brilliant colours of nature, in the simplest form possible, for the rest of his career.
In Portofino, a rare late oil painting selected for inclusion in the first posthumous exhibition of the artist's work by London's Wildenstein Gallery, Russell applies these Impressionist criteria to his depiction of Portofino Bay. Portofino's Church of St. Giorgio and pastel-coloured houses to the right are still recognisable today, but Russell has synthesised geographical accuracy with the Impressionist emphasis on colour. Adopting the higher-keyed palette used in his paintings of Nice and Antibes, Russell's confidence in his use of colour extends here to a virtuosic, almost Fauvist, application of brilliant colours, seen particularly in the waters of the Bay and windows of the surrounding buildings.
Categorising the Impressionist artists in 1887 as "Darned fools spotting canvas with small points of pure colour. Tis as fashionable as gulls' wings for hats", by around 1891 Russell's views had softened: "I think Impressionism wins because of the number of recruits. As understood here, it consists not of hasty sketches but in finished work in which the purity of colour and intention is kept." (in A. Galbally, The Art of John Peter Russell, Melbourne, 1977, p.95). Russell explained his criticism more precisely in a letter to Vincent Van Gogh in 1888, in which he wrote of Monet's work: "Very fine in colour and light of a certain richness of envelop. But like all the so-called impressionist work the form is not enough studied a lack of construction everywhere." (D. Finley, John Peter Russell, Australia Impressionist, London, unpaginated)
Despite his desire to retain a logical structure in his paintings, fostered by his early training at the Slade School and his admiration for the precisely-painted work of the Neo-Classical artists, John Peter Russell called himself a 'painter of nature, of nature's moods, of sunlight and the changing temper of the sea'. The objective of translating the light and colour of nature in its purest form onto canvas, was decisive in Russell's decision in 1888 to move with his wife Marianna to Belle-Ile, a small island off the south coast of Brittany.
In his Belle-Ile paintings, Russell's palette was principally based on ultramarine, with purple and pinks used sparingly to delineate rocks and soil. In contrast, the artist's visits to Nice and Antibes after 1890 reveal "a higher chromatic intensity than the Belle-Ile studies painted in the gentler Atlantic light Forms are uncomplicated and of minimal importance within the picture structure, working as controlling edges and boundaries for the free flow of the colour.". (A. Galbally, op. cit., p.76). Russell would remain preoccupied by the desire to replicate the brilliant colours of nature, in the simplest form possible, for the rest of his career.
In Portofino, a rare late oil painting selected for inclusion in the first posthumous exhibition of the artist's work by London's Wildenstein Gallery, Russell applies these Impressionist criteria to his depiction of Portofino Bay. Portofino's Church of St. Giorgio and pastel-coloured houses to the right are still recognisable today, but Russell has synthesised geographical accuracy with the Impressionist emphasis on colour. Adopting the higher-keyed palette used in his paintings of Nice and Antibes, Russell's confidence in his use of colour extends here to a virtuosic, almost Fauvist, application of brilliant colours, seen particularly in the waters of the Bay and windows of the surrounding buildings.