Not the same house, not the same artist, but not dissimilar and perhaps not far apart.
The yellow house in winter or Winter Afternoon was painted around the year 1900 by the obscure (he evaded my research effort) Louis Villem van Soest (1867-1948). Van Soest was born in Purworejo, Indonesia or - as was in his lifetime - the Dutch East Indies. He died in The Hague. In between times he painted many winter scenes, evidently struck - whether by joy or horror - by the bracing experience of a North Sea winter.
By contrast, in The Canal Pathway at Gravelines the little yellow house is bathed in the yellow light of summer. We've looked before beneath the deceptively sunny surface of Henri Le Sidaner's canvases at the symbolism embedded in his work. Henri Le Sidaner (1862-1939) was also th
e child of colonial parents: he was born in Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, but his family settled in Dunkirk, on the northwestern coast of France, not far from the port town of Gravelines.
Both paintings strike me as being offspring of photography, of the new ways we began to look at things when we became familiar with what a camera could do. They capture something about how a house relates to its surroundings by judicious cropping. As portraits of a beloved homestead they would be failures; as a fresh way of seeing they both caught my eye.
e child of colonial parents: he was born in Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, but his family settled in Dunkirk, on the northwestern coast of France, not far from the port town of Gravelines.Both paintings strike me as being offspring of photography, of the new ways we began to look at things when we became familiar with what a camera could do. They capture something about how a house relates to its surroundings by judicious cropping. As portraits of a beloved homestead they would be failures; as a fresh way of seeing they both caught my eye.
4 comments:
To one I say brrr! To the other, oh joy! Yes, two houses, not too unlike one another. Imagine! An artist evading your keen detective work!
Jeanne, this is an example of 'sitting on' something, waiting for it to hatch. I had noticed the similarity a couple of years ago, but then I found out that both artists came from colonial families that may have given them an unusual view of their homelands. It's an intriguing line of specualtion. Pairing the two reminds us that winter does end eventually.
this is not a comment about this post per se, but i am very interested in the background image for the blue lantern page header. can anyone identify it for me? thx :)
Hello, A.N. Yes, I can. It is titled 'Blue Christmas' and came from Marie Claire Maison (French edition) in 2006. I embed information in each image so you can read it by right-clicking on it. Unfortunately, sometimes when Blogger makes changes to its template, some of the labels have disappeared. Sorry I don't remember the photographer's name now. That's why I sometimes list the illustrations at the end of a piece. Hope this information is useful and thanks for visiting.
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