O/L, "Teaching to read", Gustave Camus, 1943 - Belgium
Exquisite Oil on canvas of the Belgian painter Gustave Camus, signed and dated in the lower right corner. The work introduces us as spectators in a private and intimate environment, in an affectionate learning moment.
At the beginning of the 19th century, a new term arises within the painting that responds to a theme that deals with everyday, family and domestic life: intimacy. Although the concept does not appear until this time, the theme was already being treated in the history of art for a long time. Already in the Renaissance there were many women portrayed in indoor scenes; Even before, the religious image of the announcement had portrayed the Virgin Mary in the solitude of her home. But it was not until the seventeenth century in Holland when this genre was definitively settled, with Johannes Vermeer as the maximum exponent. from then on he lived a great development. In France the portraits of female figures in the framework of private stays, and over the following centuries the paintings of domestic scenes were popularized in the 18th century.
The intimate painting has always shown a clear predilection for the female universe, for the representation of women in everyday, intimate and family life, such as "tender childhood." Precisely the claim of intimacy is to provide a certain transcendence to a daily moment in the life of the characters, in this case the woman and her little one. These two figures are enough to fill the whole scene, although there is hardly any interrelation between the characters despite their close relationship (intimacy tends to individualism). In this type of works time seems to spend very slowly, creating a feeling of stillness and silence that floods everything. The mother seems self -absorbed, in an introspective attitude, locked in her own thoughts, with the low look and quiet face, while the little one is immersed in the story she holds with her mother's help.
As to the technique, the author's expressionist facet is demonstrated, which lived the rise of the movement. It uses strong and expressive colors, saturated and dark, with a quick and matric brushstroke of exaggerated and very marked strokes. The color spots merge on the canvas itself, taking shape and coherence when appreciating it at a certain distance. It also highlights the study of light, because, despite the fact that the light source is not represented, it bathes the scene from the right, which causes the left half of the face to be overshadowed.
The original of the painting is that it is the spectator himself who must finish giving the ultimate meaning to the work according to his own subjectivity.
It retains the original framework, characteristic of the time, made of richly carved wood and with complicated details, such as the drafts that are arranged symmetrically in the corners.
About the Author
Gustave Camus, born on April 4, 1914 in Châtelet and who died on June 9, 1984 in Mons, was a Belgian expressionist painter. At age 14 he became an apprentice from Pintor de Casas, but left this activity as soon as his art allowed him Van Leon Van Den Houten at the University of Labor (1932-1937). He founded the Living Art in the Land of Chaleroi (1933) group with Georges Wasterlain. After the war, critics affirmed his talent and became a professor of painting and drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts of Mons (1951-1976), of which he became a director. He is related to impressionism, although his work is usually closer to Fauvism. In the 1940s he made a trip to Brittany, which had a deep impact on his work, marking the beginning of his "second stage."
Dimensions: 125 x 106 x 7 cm. / 98 x 78 cm.
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