Armand Point

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Armand Point, self-portrait[1]

Armand Point (23 March 1860

Symbolist movement and was one of the founders of the Salon de la Rose + Croix.[2]
Later he formed his own atelier. Sources differ over the details of his birth and death.

Personal life

Point was born in Algiers,

Marlotte, Seine-et-Marne.[3]

Early career

Point's earliest works were

Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Auguste Herst and Fernand Cormon.[3] He was linked to Numa Gillet.[2] From 1890 he exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.[3]

Move towards Idealism

Primavera, Sandro Botticelli
, c. 1482. Tempera on panel. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Study for the head of Leda, Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1506–8. Royal Library, Windsor

Point was influenced by

Primavera for the first time outside of an engraving.[5] The experience made a deep impression on him and he wrote that his eyes "first opened up" on seeing it, leading soon after to attempts to establish a movement in France to resurrect the art of the 15th and 16th centuries. The influence of Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci became evident in his work, for instance in the c. 1895 Eternal Chimera.[3] Hélène Linder became an ideal female model for Point who often painted her in a Leonardesque style but dressed like a muse from Botticelli.[6] Leonardo da Vinci's Study for the head of Leda (study for an original painting now lost) seems to have influenced the hair styles that he gave Hélène.[7] Hélène married French diplomat Philippe Berthelot just before the start of the First World War. Philippe Jullian described Point as moving, at this time, from a "dreamy realism to a detailed idealism".[6]

  • Thursday's walk in the fields, 1888. Musée des Augustins Toulouse
    Thursday's walk in the fields, 1888. Musée des Augustins Toulouse
  • Ame d’Automne (Autumn Soul). Pastel on brown paper, c. 1890s. Model probably Hélène Linder[4]
    Ame d’Automne (Autumn Soul). Pastel on brown paper, c. 1890s. Model probably Hélène Linder[4]
  • Hélène Linder, 1893 drawing
    Hélène Linder, 1893 drawing
  • A Portrait of Madame Berthelot. Charcoal and coloured chalks, 1895. Private collection
    A Portrait of Madame Berthelot. Charcoal and coloured chalks, 1895. Private collection
  • Remeniscing by the Pond, c. 1900
    Remeniscing by the Pond, c. 1900
  • Woman with cherry blossom, undated
    Woman with cherry blossom, undated

Symbolism

Poster for the fifth Salon de la Rose+Croix, 1896. Designed by Point and Léonard Sarluis.

Soon, Point was moving towards fully fledged Symbolism. He made a determined effort to reject the modern world and the realism of

Gorgon Medusa. For the Symbolists, Zola exemplified in literature the oppressive Naturalism they rejected.[9]

Subjects at this time were usually mythological, such as his 1897 The Siren which included a typical Symbolist

Golden Legend (Fr. Légende dorée) to the L'Estampe Moderne. The journal included four original prints in each issue and Point's was issued in Number 5, September 1897. Other artists who contributed included Alphonse Mucha, Henri Fantin-Latour and Edward Burne-Jones.[11]

Atelier de Haute-Claire

The highly ornate Coffret d'Ophélie (Ophelia Box) produced at Atelier de Haute-Claire.

From 1896 to 1901 Point lived in

applied art, including furniture, jewellery, fabrics, ceramics and wallpaper[3] that harked back to the techniques and styles of the Middle Ages. Everything was hand-made to a very high standard of craftmanship in an effort to avoid the alienating effect of industrial mass production. As a result, however, the products of the atelier were luxury items that could only be purchased by an elite and the project therefore failed to meet one of its key objectives.[13]

The Symbolist journal L'Ermitage criticised the works of the Haute-Claire group for amounting to religious icons fit only for reverence in a case in a museum and having little to do with the France of today. One such ornate object was the Coffret d'Ophélie (Ophelia Box), a box in the form of a

art nouveau.[6]

A diverse group of people visited Haute-Claire, including Oscar Wilde just months before his death in 1900. Wilde was in exile in France following imprisonment in Britain.[5]

Early and orientalist works

  • La Joie des choses. 1884.[16]
    La Joie des choses. 1884.[16]
  • Market Street.
    Market Street.
  • At the Water's Edge.
    At the Water's Edge.
  • Arab Weaver. 1886.[17]
    Arab Weaver. 1886.[17]

Symbolist works

  • Eternal Chimera. Lead pencil and pastel, c. 1895.
    Eternal Chimera. Lead pencil and pastel, c. 1895.
  • Golden legend. (Fr. Légende dorée) Lithograph, 1897.
    Golden legend. (Fr. Légende dorée) Lithograph, 1897.
  • The Siren. 1897.[3]
    The Siren. 1897.[3]
  • Dance of Salome. Oil on canvas, 1898.[2]
    Dance of Salome. Oil on canvas, 1898.[2]

Later works

  • Portrait of an Egyptian goddess, probably Isis. Watercolour, 1909.
    Portrait of an Egyptian goddess, probably Isis. Watercolour, 1909.
  • Bust of a woman in a landscape. Pencil on paper, 1910. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.[18]
    Bust of a woman in a landscape. Pencil on paper, 1910. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.[18]
  • The Judgement of Paris. Oil on canvas, 1910 or 1911.[19]
    The Judgement of Paris. Oil on canvas, 1910 or 1911.[19]
  • Apollo and Daphne. Oil on canvas, 1919.
    Apollo and Daphne. Oil on canvas, 1919.

References

  1. ^ Armand Point memoireafriquedunord.net 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Point, Armand." Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Point, Armand." Colette E. Bidon, Grove Art on Line, Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  4. ^ a b Âme d’Automne (Autumn Soul) Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014. Archived here.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-520-07768-3
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 071481590X
  7. ISBN 9781443823920
  8. ISBN 0500201250
  9. ^ Lucie-Smith, 1972, p. 54.
  10. ISBN 978-0-226-51018-7
    .
  11. ^ Adventures in the Print Trade Neil Philip, 26 February 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  12. ^ Lucie-Smith, 1972, p. 44.
  13. ^ a b La colonie d'Haute-Claire: artisanat et nostalgie L’Histoire par l’image, 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  14. ^ Armand Point Coffret d'Ophélie vers 1903 Musée d'Orsay, 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  15. ^ Armand Point Coffret aux serpents entre 1897 et 1899 Musée d'Orsay, 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  16. ^ "La Joie des choses". CNAP. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  17. ^ Arab Weaver by Armand Point BBC Your Paintings, 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  18. ^ Bust of a Maiden in a Landscape Walters Art Museum, 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  19. ^ Armand Point Le jugement de Pâris Musée d'Orsay, 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.

Further reading

External links

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