Armand Schönberger: Derivative Modernist, But Nice

Armand Schönberger (1885-1974) was an Hungarian Modernist who studied in Munich and Paris as well as in Budapest. Internet biographical information is extremely sparse: this will have to do.

Even though he lived a long life that included World War 2 and nearly 30 years of Communist rule, I could locate none of his paintings dated outside the 1920s and early 1930s. In part this might be because the majority of his paintings seen on the web have no dates attached. Or maybe he painted less as time went by.

Schönberger painted in a composite of Modernist styles -- mostly Cubist, but with Fauvist coloring and perhaps a whiff of Futurism. So he was not especially "original." But to me this is no artistic crime. What's important, I think, is how well done paintings are in terms of how they look. As for Schönberger, even though I'm not much of a fan of Modernism, I find some of his works pleasing versions of that approach.

One more thing: Despite plenty of Cubist details, Schönberger's human figures did not stray far from normal proportions. This helps make his paintings more approachable to viewers indifferent to Modernism.

Gallery

At the Table

Cabaret

Concert in the Coffee House - 1928

Coffee House - 1931

Musicians - 1929

Mädchenportrait (Portrait of a Young Woman) - 1925
This is perhaps his nicest painting.

Self-Portrait with Daughter Vera - 1928

Model in Interior - 1931

Portrait of a Young Woman - 1930

Model in an Art Studio
Much less Modernist, so I suspect that it was painted after 1935.

Young Woman
Another likely later work, judging by the subject's hair style.

More Painting by Herbert La Thangue

Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859 – 1929) was a Newlyn School (Stanhope Forbes - influenced) painter who mostly dealt with rural subjects. I previously posted about him here. Biographical information on La Thangue is here and here.

Below are a few rural English scenes along with paintings made in Italy and some portrait works. La Thangue painted in a basically representational manner, but simplified to varying degrees and used strong brushwork -- the latter especially for backgrounds.

Gallery

Traveling Harvesters

The Sussex Cider Press

The Orchard

Making Lugurian Lace

Farmyard Scene - 1905

The Festa

Italian Peasant Girl

The Puppy

Portrait of a Young Girl - 1880

Polly (study) - c.1885

Resting After the Game - Kate La Thangue
Kate was his wife.

The Artist's Wife

Frederick Goodall, British Orientalist

Frederick Goodall (1822-1904) was a Royal Academician whose career was successful until near the end of his long life when he became bankrupt.

Goodall's Wikipedia entry is here. A web site devoted to his family includes this biographical information.

Although he painted a variety of subjects, Goodall is best considered an Orientalist, one of a group of (mostly) European 19th century artists who traveled North Africa and the Near East, painting scenes of the exotic for their pre-television / pre-internet audiences.

To put it another way, Orientalist painters were reporters of a kind. That, combined with their typically academic training, accounts for that fact that most Orientalist paintings (regardless of artist) are hard-edged and detail-filled.

Gallery

A Dream of Paradise
Many Orientalists needed little excuse of paint exotic beauties, clothed or (so much the better) partly so. The lady pictured here appears to be a fair-skinned Greek in what logically would be a Turkish setting, but more likely she was an Englishwoman.

Bazaar in Cairo - 1891

Leaving the Village
Presumably during the annual rise of the Nile in Egypt.

The Light of the Sun Upon the Pyramids of Giza

The Song of the Nubian Slave - 1863
The color work is nice on this, one of Goodall's better Orientalist paintings.

The Finding of Moses
Not strictly Orientalist, but informed by Goodall's travels in Egypt.

Mrs Charles Kettlewell in Neo-classical Dress - 1890
Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a master of painting marble and Northern Europeans in Classical scenes. Goodall was not so good at this.

High Society Couple - 1861
Now for some examples of Goodall's non-Orientalist work.

Raising the Maypole - 1855

The Artist's Wife, Alice Tarry - 1873
She was his second wife.

Rebecca at the Well
A Biblical scene with an Englishwoman posing -- an offshoot of Orientalism.

Molti Ritratti: Eleonora Duse

Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) was a famous Italian actress active during the four decades centered on 1900. Her esteem was on the order of that of Sarah Bernhardt. Duse's Wikipedia entry is here.

Like Bernhardt, she lived in the age of photography, yet her fame resulted in a number of portraits being made of her by important artists. Below are examples.

Gallery

Photo of Eleonora Duse

By Giovanni Boldini
As best I can tell from the Internet, this is a portrait of Duse by Boldini, though I could find only one source for this information.

By Vittorio Corcos
Corcos was a leading Italian portrait painter and contemporaneous with La Duse.  Her nose looks twisted, but that might not be Corcos' doing (see below).

By Edoardo Gordigiani - 1890

By Edoardo Gordigiani
Two images by Gordigiani, a less-known artist.

By Franz von Lenbach - 1886
This is in the collection of Seattle's Fry Museum.

By Ilya Repin - 1891
A fine drawing by Repin, who was a major Russian painter active in the late 19th century.

By John Singer Sargent - c. 1883
It seems that Duse only allowed Sargent a brief sitting, so this is little more than a sketch. More regarding what happened can be found here.  Note that (1) his version of her nose agrees with Corcos', and (2) the other portraits tend to show her in profile.

Jacques de Lalaing: Sculptor Who Painted

Jacques de Lalaing (1858-1917), son of Belgian diplomat Count Maximilien de Lalaing and Bengal-born aristocrat Julie Ann Vibert, was born in London. He moved to Belgium in 1875 to pursue training and a career as a painter and sculptor. Being a sculptor, he probably had a better feel for anatomy than many painters. I deal with his paintings in this post.

Lalaing's English wikipedia entry is here, and his French entry is here.

However, the best source of information on him is this fine web site containing biographical information and many examples of his work.

Gallery

Les prisonniers de guerre - 1883
Painted when Lalaing was about age 25. I don't find it very impressive.

Justine de Monie - 1903 (pastel)
Lalaing made a number of highly detailed pastel portraits that, viewed digitally, are hard to distinguish from oil paintings. This was made the same year as the oil painting below, so it's possible that it is a study. On the other hand, the third link above has an example of a pastel that looks like the study of a head in an oil painting, but is dated a year later than the painting (the subject is Ghislaine de Caraman).

Justine de Monie - 1903 (oil on canvas)

Christine du Tour van Bellinchave - c.1893 (pastel)
Sister-in-law of the artist. It seems that this was damaged by a German shell (obus, in the web page text). More likely it was done by a shell fragment, probably in 1914 when the German army overran most of Belgium.

Christine du Tour van Bellinchave
This photo was probably used by Lalaing as reference for the clothing and the pose. Christine's face differs in liveliness and attractiveness -- photographic portraits were often stiff affairs in the 19th century.

Christine du Tour van Bellinchave - 1906
A later portrait, very nicely done.

Berthe Baeyens-Puissant - 1904 (pastel)

Général Donny - 1913
Lalaing also portrayed men.

Hélène de Burlet - 1894 (pastel)

Julie Ann Vibart, the artist's mother

Cécile Gilson de Rouvreux - 1913 (pastel)
A work made shortly before the war and ill health curtailed Lalaing's career.