JEAN FRANCOIS RAFFAELLI

 

Post No 232

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SUNDAY Feature on ART of Architecture -by Gautam Shah 

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Jean Francois Raffaelli (French, 1850-1924) was a Painter, Print-maker and a Writer. He had an interest in theatre and music. But to try his hand on painting, he had a short training in art. Interest in theatre art influenced his career. He took up painting in 1870, primarily producing costume pictures until 1876. He also began to draw in a realistic style, figures of ordinary people in the suburbs of Paris, like, peasants, workers, and rag-pickers. He also sketched landscapes of Paris, besides the portraits. He said ‘my subject is all Paris . . . I aim to paint the beauty of Paris as well as its wretchedness.’

He shifted to a studio on the Rue de Courcelles in Paris in 1892. This prompted him to a new direction in his art. He now used more colours and lighter scapes of Paris. His scenes of streets and boulevards reflect new inclination towards expressionism. His collection shows experiments in various styles of painting, subjects and composition.

He experimented with five-plate colour print-making. He preferred dry-point hatching. Print making taught him delineation of objects and people with edging high-light. 

 

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