Paul Peel
Self-portrait from the National Gallery of Canada
Born(1860-11-07)November 7, 1860
London, Canada West
DiedOctober 3, 1892(1892-10-03) (aged 31)
Paris, France
Educationstudied with William Lees Judson in London, Ontario; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins; École des Beaux-Arts with Jean-Léon Gérôme; Académie Julian with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre
SpouseIsaure Verdier (m. 1882)
The Little Shepherdess (1892). 160.6 × 114.0 cm. Oil on canvas. Art Gallery of Ontario

Paul Peel (7 November 1860 – 3 October 1892) was a Canadian figure painter. Having won a medal at the 1890 Paris Salon, he became one of the first Canadian artists to receive international recognition in his lifetime.[1]

Career and life

Peel was born in London, Canada West, and received his art training from his father from a young age.[2] Later he studied with William Lees Judson and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins (1877-1880). [2] Like fellow graduates of the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts and students of Eakins, Paul subscribed to a tonal method of rendering natural light outdoors.[3]

He moved to Paris in 1881, France where he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Decoratifs, later enrolling in the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts. It was at the recommendation of Gérôme that he began sketching outdoors.[3]

He studied afterwards with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant in his private atelier and then with him at the Académie Julian as well as with Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre (1877-1890).[2] In 1883, he exhibited his first painting at the Paris Salon, where he would continue to exhibit regularly until 1892. His paintings have a conservative quality, but a few later works reveal that he was a convert to Impressionist colour and light.

In 1882, he married Isaure Verdier. They had two children: a son (Robert Andre, in 1886) and a daughter (Emilie Marguerite, in 1888).[2]

Peel travelled widely in Canada and in Europe, exhibiting as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.[4] He also exhibited at international shows like the Paris Salon, where he won a bronze medal in 1890 for his painting After the Bath.[2] He was known for his often sentimental nudes and for his pictures of the charm of children.[3] Childhood effectively became the artist's "brand" with the public success of After the Bath.[5] He was also among the first Canadian painters to explore the nude as a subject.[6]

He contracted a lung infection and died in his sleep, in Paris, France, at the age of 31.[2]

His childhood home is one of the many attractions at the Fanshawe Pioneer Village in London, Ontario.

Major works

Listed chronologically:

  • Devotion (1881)
  • Listening to the Skylark (1884)
  • Mother and Child (1888)
  • The Young Botanist (1888–1890)
  • A Venetian Bather 1889
  • Portrait of Gloria Roberts (1889)
  • After the Bath (1890)
  • The Young Biologist (1891)
  • The Little Shepherdess (1892)
  • Robert Andre Peel (c. 1892)
  • Bennett Jull (1889–1890)
Adoration (1885) by Peel

Record sale prices

At the June 8, 2023, Cowley Abbott auction Artwork from an Important Private Collection - Part II, The Young Gleaner (1888), oil on canvas, 33 x 23.25 ins ( 83.8 x 59.1 cms ), Auction Estimate: $150,000.00 - $200,000.00, realized a price of $408,000.00.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Newlands, Anne. Canadian Paintings, Prints, and Drawings. Firefly Books, 2007. Page 240–41. ISBN 1-55407-290-5
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 MacDonald 1977, p. 1561-1566.
  3. 1 2 3 Baker, Victoria. "Article". cowleyabbott.ca. Cowley Abbott Auction. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  4. ↑ "Members since 1880". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  5. ↑ "Works". cowleyabbott.ca. Cowley Abbott Auction, An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art - Part III December 6th 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "Paul Peel". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "Article". cowleyabbott.ca. Cowley Abbott Auction. Retrieved 4 July 2023.

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Peel.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.