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What kind of artist was Henri Rousseau?
PaintingHenri Rousseau / FormHenri Julien Félix Rousseau (French: [ɑ̃ʁi ʒyljɛ̃ feliks ʁuso]; May 21, 1844 – September 2, 1910) was a French post-impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), a humorous description of his occupation as a toll and tax collector.
What inspired Henri Rousseau's work?
Rousseau was a frequent visitor to the botanical gardens, zoo, and natural history museum that made up of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The flora and fauna on display there inspired much of the lush and exotic imagery seen in his jungle paintings.
What made Henri Rousseau famous?
2, 1910, Paris), French painter who is considered the archetype of the modern naive artist. He is known for his richly coloured and meticulously detailed pictures of lush jungles, wild beasts, and exotic figures. After exhibiting with the Fauves in 1905, he gained the admiration of avant-garde artists.
Was Jean Jacques Rousseau an artist?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a French artist who was born in 1861. Numerous key galleries and museums such as Teylers Museum have featured Jean-Jacques Rousseau's work in the past.
What techniques does Henri Rousseau use?
He not only developed his own artistic style, but his own unconventional methods of painting, applying the colors one at a time, painting in layers of content (sky first, then other background elements, finishing with foreground subjects) and working the canvas methodically from the top down.
What did Henri Rousseau use in his paintings?
Another quality of his technique was the use of controlled brush strokes which make each object in the painting appear outlined. Rousseau's work was characterised by heavy dependence on line, stiff portraiture, wild juxtapositions and flattened perspective from which the Cubists and Surrealists drew heavily.
Who influenced Henri Rousseau?
Pablo PicassoFernand LégerMax BeckmannHenri Rousseau/Influenced by
Where Did Henri Rousseau paint his paintings?
In 1893, Rousseau moved to a studio in Montparnasse where he lived and worked until his death in 1910. During 1897 he produced one of his most famous paintings, La Bohemienne endormie (The Sleeping Gypsy).
How much do Henri Rousseau paintings sell for?
Henri Rousseau's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 36 USD to 2,882,500 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 1998 the record price for this artist at auction is 2,882,500 USD for Heureux quator, sold at Christie's New York in 2009.
What did Jean-Jacques Rousseau do?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712 – 1778 CE, was a philosopher of the 18th century who mostly lived and was active in France. His political philosophy influenced western Europe, including aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political thought.
What is the main idea of Jean-Jacques Rousseau?
As a believer in the plasticity of human nature, Rousseau holds that good laws make for good citizens. However, he also believes both that good laws can only be willed by good citizens and that, in order to be legitimate, they must be agreed upon by the assembly.
What is Rousseau's theory?
Rousseau s theory of education emphasized the importance of expression to produce a well-balanced, freethinking child. He believed that if children are allowed to develop naturally without constraints imposed on them by society they will develop towards their fullest potential, both educationally and morally.
Who are Rousseau biggest influences?
Surprisingly, Rousseau expressed the greatest admiration for painters such as Jean-Leon Gerome and William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and strove for recognition from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Having been rejected from the Salon, however, he exhibited for the first time with the Groupe des Indépendants in 1885.
Who did Henri Rousseau influence?
Pablo PicassoFernand LégerDav PilkeyMax BeckmannJean HugoHenri Rousseau/Influenced
How did Henri Rousseau use his imagination?
Artist Henri Rousseau (1844 – 1910) used a mix of zoological, museum and artistic sources, combined with a strong imagination, to bring exotic locations and wildlife to life. Rousseau worked as a toll (tax) collector in Paris and had no formal training in art.
What is one reason art can be its own theme?
What is one reason art can be its own theme? It is created for visual pleasure.
What was Rousseau's art?
Although Rousseau's art was not understood or accepted by the conservative, official art world of Paris, he was able to show his work in annual exhibitions organized by the Société des Artistes Indépendants . He submitted works to these open, un-juried shows from 1886 until the end of his life. His art was seen and appreciated by established artists such as Camille Pissarro and Paul Signac, who praised his direct, emotional approach to his subject matter.
What did Rousseau's paintings depict?
Many of Rousseau's signature paintings depicted human figures or wild animals in jungle-like settings.
Who Was Henri Rousseau?
While working as a toll collector in Paris, Henri Rousseau taught himself to paint and exhibited his work almost annually from 1886 until the end of his life. He was given the nickname "Le Douanier" ("the customs officer") by his acquaintances in the Parisian avant-garde. Despite his connections with other artists and dealers, he never profited from his paintings; however, works like "The Dream," "The Sleeping Gypsy" and "Carnival Evening" influenced many artists who came after him.
When did Rousseau retire?
He submitted works to these open, un-juried shows from 1886 until the end of his life. His art was seen and appreciated by established artists such as Camille Pissarro and Paul Signac, who praised his direct, emotional approach to his subject matter. In 1893, at the age of 49, Rousseau retired from his work as a toll collector ...
Where did Henri Rousseau live?
Early Life and Work. Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was born into a middle-class family in the town of Laval in northwest France on May 21, 1844. Rousseau attended school in Laval until 1860. In his late teens, he worked for a lawyer and then enlisted in the army, although he never saw combat.
Did Rousseau have a formal art education?
Meanwhile, Rousseau had begun to paint in his spare time. He never had a formal art education; instead, he taught himself by copying paintings in the art museums of Paris and by sketching in the city's botanical gardens and natural history museums.
Who is Henri Rousseau?
Henri Rousseau, byname le Douanier (French: “the Customs Officer”), (born May 21, 1844, Laval, France—died Sept. 2, 1910, Paris), French painter who is considered the archetype of the modern naive artist. He is known for his richly coloured and meticulously detailed pictures of lush jungles, wild beasts, and exotic figures. After exhibiting with the Fauves in 1905, he gained the admiration of avant-garde artists.
What was Rousseau's background?
Rousseau, the son of a tinsmith, came from a modest background. He was a mediocre student, and he left the secondary school in Laval without having completed his studies. He soon entered military service, in which he remained for four years. During his term of service he met soldiers who had survived the French expedition to Mexico (1862–65) in support of Emperor Maximilian, and he listened with fascination to their recollections. Their descriptions of the subtropical country were doubtless the first inspiration for the exotic landscapes that later became one of his major themes. The vividness of Rousseau’s portrayals of jungle scenes led to the popular conception, which Rousseau never refuted, that he traveled to Mexico. In fact, he never left France.
What was Rousseau's enthusiasm for the fair?
Rousseau’s enthusiasm for the fair was so great that he wrote a vaudeville play entitled A Visit to the Exposition of 1889, which he did not succeed in having produced. In this play, as in other theatrical works he wrote, his naiveté revealed itself even more than in the technical aspects of his painting.
Where did Rousseau live?
Released from military service upon the death of his father (to support his widowed mother), Rousseau settled in 1868 in Paris. The following year he married Clémence Boitard, the daughter of a cabinetmaker. In Paris he began a career as a petty official, eventually (in 1871) becoming a tax collector in the Paris toll office; from this post came the name by which he was well known in later years, le Douanier (“the Customs Officer”), in spite of the fact that the toll office had no real customs functions. Working as a bureaucrat and busy with family affairs, he still somehow found time to draw and paint. Although no works remain as evidence, he had probably drawn and painted since childhood, and his stated ambition was to be a painter in the style of the academicians of his day. In 1884 he obtained permission to copy paintings at the Louvre. In 1886 he exhibited some of his first paintings, not at the official Salon, which would never have admitted a painter of such naiveté, but at the Salon des Indépendants; this annual exhibition was established by young painters to allow themselves and others a chance to exhibit free from the narrow official Salon requirements of style and subject matter.
What was Rousseau's greatest gift?
Still, his only great gift was for painting. The most important work of this period in Rousseau’s career is his self-portrait, Myself: Portrait-Landscape (1890).
Where did Henri Rousseau grow up?
Biography of Henri Rousseau. Henri Julien Felix Rousseau grew up amid humble circumstances in Laval, a small town in northwestern France. His father, a metalsmith, had long-term financial difficulties, amassing enough debt to result in the seizure of the family house in 1851.
What is Rousseau's style?
Largely self-taught, Rousseau developed a style that evidenced his lack of academic training, with its absence of correct proportions, one-point perspective, and use of sharp, often unnatural colors. Such features resulted in a body of work imbued with a sense of mystery and eccentricity.
What was Henri Rousseau's nickname?
Henri Rousseau became a full-time artist at the age of forty-nine, after retiring from his post at the Paris customs office - a job that prompted his famous nickname, "Le Douanier Rousseau," "the toll collector." Although an admirer of artists such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Leon Gerome, the self-taught Rousseau became the archetypal naïve artist. His amateurish technique and unusual compositions provoked the derision of contemporary critics, while earning the respect and admiration of modern artists like Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky for revealing "the new possibilities of simplicity." Rousseau's best-known works are lush jungle scenes, inspired not by any firsthand experiences of such locales (the artist reportedly never left France), but by frequent trips to the Paris gardens and zoo.
What was Rousseau's first jungle painting?
In this, Rousseau's first jungle painting, a wide-eyed, tooth-bearing tiger suddenly emerges from the grass, where it has been lurking, with the waving fronds, slanting branches, rain, and dark sky indicating the storm cited in the title. The canvas was also known as "Tigers Pursuing Explorers" and "Storm in the Jungle," alternate monikers suggesting some ambiguity as to its subject matter. Exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, this jungle scene - a theme often treated by academic artists - was ridiculed by many critics for its evident amateurish quality. Yet, for the painter and critic Felix Vallotton, the work was a " 'must-see'... the alpha and omega of painting and so disconcerting that, before so much competency and childish naivete, the most deeply rooted convictions are held up and questioned." Vallotton's description suggests the reasons Rousseau would be so highly acclaimed among modern artists of the early-20 th century and later.
Who wrote the poem "The picture radiates beauty, that is indisputable"?
The painting captivated the poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire, who wrote, "The picture radiates beauty, that is indisputable. I believe nobody will laugh this year."
What did Rousseau's paintings look like?
It is true that by the smooth, sleek standards of 19th Century academic painting, Rousseau’s pictures looked rough and rude. His figures and compositions were awkward and clunky, he had no sure grasp of perspective, his use of colour – especially black – was idiosyncratic, and he was incapable of painting feet. Look at the strangely contorted limbs of his stiff Football Players of 1908: as an artist, he could seem naive in the extreme.
Where was Rousseau born?
Born in 1844 in the French town of Laval, Rousseau led a mostly unremarkable life. For more than two decades, he worked in the Parisian customs service, earning himself the half-mocking nickname of “ le douanier ” (the customs officer).
Why was Henri Rousseau mocked?
The self-taught painter Henri Rousseau was mocked for his clumsy compositions and awkward perspectives. But if he had been trained, modern art as we know it might never have happened, writes Alastair Sooke.
What is the radical aspect of Rousseau's painting?
And this is, of course, also true with all great art.”. According to König, one radical aspect of Rousseau’s painting, which heralded Modernism, was the way he refused to hide his sources. Rousseau never travelled, so his strange jungle scenes were concocted in his imagination.
When did Rousseau submit his work to the Salon?
Although they were rubbished, and much of his later work was ridiculed too (“Backs jostle in front of his entries, and the place rocks with laughter,” one critic wrote), Rousseau doggedly submitted work to the Salon every year for the rest of his life, except 1899 and 1900.
Does Rousseau's jungle look real?
Rousseau’s jungles have the widescreen impact of a movie. The strange thing is, he didn’t try to cover his tracks: Rousseau’s jungles don’t look like real jungles. But this doesn’t prevent them from having a powerful sense of mystery and allure.
Did Rousseau ever see anything more grotesque?
Another remarked, in 1889, that he had “never seen anything more grotesque” than Rousseau’s portraits and Van Gogh’s Starry Night (which, in retrospect, hardly seems like bad company to be keeping). Rousseau pasted all of his negative reviews into a scrapbook.
Who was Henri Rosseau's only teacher?
Although he admitted receiving advice from two reputable academic painters, namely, Félix Auguste-Clément and Jean-Léon Gérôme, Henri Rosseau claimed that his only teacher was nature. He was self-taught and worked on Naïve art.
What is the name of the French painter who was known as the “Le Douanier”?
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was known as a French Post-Impressionist artist utilizing Naïve or Primitive style. In the course of his life, he also acquired a nickname of “Le Douanier” which means “the customs officer.” This was a humorous take on his job as a tax collector. Scorned at during his life, he came out as a self-educated genius; his works acclaimed to have a prominent artistic quality.
How did Le Douanier get his name?
They had six children but only one survived. When 1871 came, he became a collector of octroi tax on products entering Paris, thus, his nickname Le Douanier. He remarried in 1898, this time to Josephine Noury, a year after his first wife died. He delved into serious painting when he was in his early forties. At age 49, he retired from his job to paint full-time.
Who was the artist who exhibited the Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope?
His work entitled The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants where it was placed side by side with works by Derain and Matisse.
What is the most popular form of art?
Art comes in many forms, and each form of art comes in different styles. Paintings are some of the most popular forms of art. People know of formal looking paintings such as works from Da Vinci or Van Gogh. Another style is seen in works with childlike simplicity. This is known as Naïve art. One artist who became known for Naïve art was Henri Rousseau.
How old was Rousseau when he became an artist?
Rousseau became a full-time artist at the age of 49. He was an accomplished violin player, and he often supplemented his income by playing as a street musician. Although some of Rousseau’s most well-known paintings are of jungle scenes, he never set foot in a jungle.
What are some of the most famous paintings of Rousseau?
Some of Rousseau’s most famous paintings include: Tiger in a Tropical Storm, The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope, and The Sleeping Gypsy.
What was Henri Rousseau's father's job?
Henri’s father was a plumber. Rousseau went to high school in Laval, his home town. He was an average pupil, although he did very well in art and music lessons. After he left school, Henri worked for a lawyer and then he joined the army, serving from 1863 to 1867.
Where was Henri Rousseau born?
Henri Rousseau: Facts and Information. Here are some facts about Henri Rousseau, the French artist. Henri Rousseau was born in Laval in Mayenne, France on 21st May 1844. Henri’s father was a plumber. Rousseau went to high school in Laval, his home town.
Who was Henri Rousseau's second wife?
Clemence died in 1888, and Rousseau married his second wife, Josephine Noury, in 1898. Henri Rousseau only started painting seriously when he was in in his forties. He was a self-taught painter and, as a result, his work is often described as naive or child-like. Rousseau became a full-time artist at the age of 49.
How many children did Rousseau have?
He worked as a government official and then he became an import tax collector. Rousseau married Clemence Boitard, the daughter of his landlord, and they had six children. Unfortunately, only one survived beyond childhood.
Henri Rousseau’s Biography
- Despite his hopes of becoming a well-known academic artist, Henri Rousseau ended up being the prototypical naïve painter. Henri Rousseau the artist was mostly self-taught, and his work reflected his absence of formal education, with its disregard for accurate proportion, one-point perspective, and utilization of vivid, sometimes garish colors.
Important Examples of Henri Rousseau’s Paintings
- Rousseau developed modern, unusual representations of established genres like portraiture, landscape, and allegory, influenced by a mix of “high” and “low” materials – the sculpture of academia, postcards, tabloid graphics, and visits to the Parisian public zoos and parks.
Reading Recommendations
- What did you think of Henri Rousseau’s biography and art? Want to learn even more about him? Here are some suggested books related to the artist’s work and lifetime.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who Was Henri Rousseau the Artist?
Henri Rousseau’s self-described realism differed from that of his French contemporaries. Rather than depicting rural and urban squalor, the artist’s works featured immaculate suburbia and neat families with vibrant colors, simple forms, consistent lighting, and precise brushwork regarded a… - What Did Henri Rousseau Paint?
Henri Rousseau’s works of jungles are the most well-known. But he never saw any, and he never left France! His inspiration comes from children’s book drawings, the floral gardens in Paris, and tableaux of taxidermy wild creatures. During his duty, he also met troops who had escaped the F…
Summary of Henri Rousseau
Accomplishments
- Although he had ambitions to become a famous academic painter, Rousseau instead became the virtual opposite: the quintessential "naïve" artist. Largely self-taught, Rousseau developed a style that...
- The untutored and idiosyncratic character of Rousseau's art was derided by many early viewers of his work, with one Parisian journalist memorably writing that "Monsieur Rousseau …
- Although he had ambitions to become a famous academic painter, Rousseau instead became the virtual opposite: the quintessential "naïve" artist. Largely self-taught, Rousseau developed a style that...
- The untutored and idiosyncratic character of Rousseau's art was derided by many early viewers of his work, with one Parisian journalist memorably writing that "Monsieur Rousseau paints with his fee...
- Influenced by a combination of "high" and "low" sources - academic sculpture, postcards, tabloid illustrations, and trips to the Paris public zoo and gardens - Rousseau created modern, unconvention...
Biography of Henri Rousseau
- Childhood
Henri Julien Felix Rousseau grew up amid humble circumstances in Laval, a small town in northwestern France. His father, a metalsmith, had long-term financial difficulties, amassing enough debt to result in the seizure of the family house in 1851. Subsequently, the young Henri e… - Early Training
The family moved to Angers in 1861, where Rousseau found a job as a clerk for the local bailiff. He managed to avoid the military draft by drawing lots, but ended up serving in the 51stinfantry regiment to avoid scandal after his employer accused him of theft. His seven years of active dut…