In art news and focusing this week on early impressionists, we look at an often-neglected impressionist; Maurice Danseur.
Maurice used to work with Claude Monet but was mostly in charge of mixing the paints for Claude. During quieter times, when Claude would be out wondering around the Lily ponds, with an outstretched arm and his thumb out in front of his face, with his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth, trying to visualise the painting, our man Maurice would be working on his own artworks.
This is one of my favourites, ‘Un peintre novice dans le jardin avec un dragon et une orchidée’ …a novice painter in the garden with a dragon and an orchid
As usual, numerous short rapid brushstrokes and touches or dabs of pure paint and Selleys No More Gaps, (known as ‘taches‘) have been used to create the windcheater’s flower-laden surface. This is a technique made easier by the invention of the flat, square, ferrule paintbrush and wiping a finger on the canvas, as opposed to the round brush. In order to indicate the textures and shapes of the foliage, paint and gap filler has been applied layer on layer with a palette knife and fingers, on the trousers, until a thick crust is formed, making it a little uncomfortable to wear the trousers. The joyful, accidental attachment of the masking tape on the top left leg, seamlessly connects the two canvasses effortlessly together, blending the model into the garden.
Way better than an installation consisting of a pile of newspapers or cushions on a gallery floor; this is pure art.
Sacré bleu! That’s the famous “Danseur Manquant”, looted from the Louvre by Göring in 1940, then stolen by the notorious cat-burglar Gaston Cambrioleur when he was on a PoW work party to mow the lawns at Karinhall.
He must have hidden it, retrieved it after the war and emigrated to Australia.
The taches are the giveaway, no question.