Henri Fantin-Latour:

French Impressionist

Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904)

In the history of late-nineteenth-century of French Impressionist painters, Henri Fantin-Latour, occupies an especially out of the ordinary position. He grew up in Paris where he studied painting with his father and eventually worked in the studio of Lecoq de Boisbaudran. He attempted to enter the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1854 but failed the examination.

Eventually his work was readily accepted by the official Salon and was also respected by the pioneering artists such as his contemporaries, Monet, Manet and Bazille, but Henri was never a real part of the Impressionist group. Why then are we including him in this Impressionist Series? He was painting at the time of the Impressionist artists and it seems that it is the only reason that art history has included Henri in this genre, although he did have an influence on them in retrospect. He fashioned his own distinctive and realistic style. Fantin-Latour would become best known for his still life paintings of flowers and group portraits of many of his friends that included Parisian artists and writers of the day.

Unlike Monet and his still life paintings with their vivid color, loose brush strokes and liberal paint surface, Fantin's work was much more conservative and detailed. His flowers, fruits and other typical still life components are meticulous studies that concentrate the distinguishing tones and textures of objects and integrate them in deliberate compositions of clarity. Indeed, his paintings project a nearly photographic quality and sharpness when compared with the Impressionist paintings.

Though he was friendly with his contemporary artists, he gradually withdrew from them and followed his earlier love of the masters. Henri spent hours upon end in the Lourve Museum diligently studying and copying the works of Delacroix, Rubens, Hals, and the Venetians. These masters were the ultimate result and the forming of his artistic prowess.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler had a great deal to do with Henri's recognition in England as a still-life artist and where his paintings sold well. At the same time his popularity had increased in England he was all but "unknown in France" during his lifetime.

Henri first experimented with lithography in 1862 which led him to communicate his love of music in romantic scenes inspired by operas from Berlioz, Wagner and Schumann. He produced some stirring lithographs that were based on the music of these famous composers in addition to his realistic paintings.

While Fantin-Latour's work acknowledges a concern with the appearance of being real which marked the 17th Century Dutch still-life painters, its immediacy and its deliberate formality articulate the new materialism of the Impressionists.

Henri Fantin-Latour married a fellow painter in 1875. Victoria Dubourg Fantin-Latour and Henri spent their summers on the country estate of her family at Buré, Orne in Basse-Normandie. Henri passed away of Lyme disease at the estate in 1904.

— by Gwen Howlett  |  August 1, 2010

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