Dessine-moi un mouton
La vieux port - Honfleur. Picture TR. Notice the light?
I read once - sometime ago - that Impressionist artists loved the quality of the light in Honfleur, Normandy. The way it arrives sharply from the estuary, dapples on the water, shards through the slate tiled buildings. I think my photograph (above) of the old harbour might actually demonstrate this.
Yes dear readers, we’re into one of Tim’s infrequent forays into art criticism. But, like some overfed, underbred Yorkshireman holding forth after several pints of frothy ale and a chicken madras, “I know what I like.”* The rest of this article may be a bit rough and ill-focused. Bit like Impressionism, in fact.
Normandy plays an important role in the development of impression art. Impressionists, when they weren’t trying to get unemployed actresses to take their clothes off for ‘life studies’, liked to paint out of doors - en plein air - and so light, and the quality of it, was really important. When I was younger I used to claim I liked impressionist artists. It was fashionable. However, as my tastes have matured and become designedly my own, I’m less enamoured these days. I prefer a more literal approach to painting which can then be interpreted.
My notes from Honfleur are a little more damning - as befitting being written in a bar “Impressionism seems to be an artist forgetting how to paint and covering this with obfuscation and swirls.”
Yes, I’ve just had a short break in Normandy. Honfleur is where one of the godfathers of impressionism, Eugene Bodin, was born. There’s a pretty good museum in the town dedicated to his work and other Impressionists. Extolling the light thereabouts, Bodin dragged a coterie of young men in the latter part of the nineteenth century to this part of France. Men like Claude Monet. And together they painted - and repainted - seascapes, beaches, harbours and buildings, of Honfleur and other towns along the Côte Fleurie. Outside and capturing the light, you see.
So, wearing my polo neck sweater, pea coat and artistic flat cap, I visited the Eugene Bodin musée in Honfleur and the somewhat grander musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Both have large Impressionist collections. Frankly, I’m all Pissaro’d and Sisley’d out. I had the freedom to be slow, to be quick, to linger over paintings, to pass by those that don’t interest me (basically fruit and biblical allegories). Both galleries are worth a visit. Both have non Impressionistic paintings.
One thing I noticed though. Everyone who holds a painting stick seems to have had a go at rendering The Bell Tower in Honfleur. Hell me too… So let’s compare Monet and Robson shall we? First up Claude:-
Clock tower Honfleur - Monet
Not bad Monet - bit squiggly for my tastes though. More bell-end than bell tower.
Now me… I literally did the drawing opposite in 30 seconds. I bet Monet took days to do his misjudged dab-fest. Piece of piss this art game.
But the gods of talent asked me to choose between art and literary fame. I chose both and so got neither. However, some vestiges of skill still remain. More in the written word than the art world to be honest but - I’m available for commissions. I don’t charge much.
Same goes for my gigalo skills.
So, what pictures would I recommend from those I saw?
The monumental Le Martyre de Sainte Agnes - Joseph Court 1864 (shown above in Rouen, picture TR). Clearly the Roman theme attracted me. Diocletian was one of the better emperors but became a bit of a bastard towards the Christians in his final years.
Place de la Haut-Vielle Tour a Rouen - Guiseppe Canella 1824.
Rouen Cathedral. Grey - Claude Monet. This one grew on me. As it walked way from it, the indistinct shapes became whole and I - for once - got impressionism.
Hetraie a La Côte de Grâce - Eugene Bodin (can’t find this online). One of his better ones. Can’t remember it though. This is a great article, isn’t it?
Francois Louise Francious - Les Netres de La Côte de Grâce (can’t find this online.) I’ve decided I like pictures of tress. In particular, I like pictures of trees in Autumn.
Finally, one of my favourite French songs - Draw me a sheep (Dessine-Moi Un Mouton)
* Actually, digression alert, I was born in Yorkshire. Can’t do the accent though. When I try it sounds like some generic ‘trouble at t’mill’ version of a Northern accent soft southerners do to entertain themselves with at posh dinner parties when the subject of Brexit voters come up.
