Paul Peel (7 November 1860 – 3 October 1892) was a Canadian figure painter. Having won a medal at the 1890 Paris Salon, he became one of the first Canadian artists to receive international recognition in his lifetime.[1]
Paul Peel | |
|---|---|
 Self-portrait from the National Gallery of Canada | |
| Born | November 7, 1860 London, Canada West |
| Died | October 3, 1892 (aged 31) Paris, France |
| Education | studied with William Lees Judson in London, Ontario; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins; École des Beaux-Arts with Jean-Léon Gérôme; Académie Julian with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre |
| Spouse | Isaure Verdier (m. 1882) |
Career and life
editPeel was born in London, Canada West, and received his art training from his father from a young age.[2] His sister Mildred Peel was also an artist.[3] Later he studied with William Lees Judson and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins (1877-1880). [2] Like fellow graduates of the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts and students of Eakins, Paul subscribed to a tonal method of rendering natural light outdoors.[4]
He moved to Paris in 1881, France where he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Decoratifs, later enrolling in the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts. It was at the recommendation of Gérôme that he began sketching outdoors.[4]
He studied afterwards with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant in his private atelier and then with him at the Académie Julian as well as with Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre (1877-1890).[2] In 1883, he exhibited his first painting at the Paris Salon, where he would continue to exhibit regularly until 1892. His paintings have a conservative quality, but a few later works reveal that he was a convert to Impressionist colour and light.
In 1882, he married Isaure Verdier. They had two children: a son (Robert Andre, in 1886) and a daughter (Emilie Marguerite, in 1888).[2]
Peel travelled widely in Canada and in Europe, exhibiting as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.[5] He also exhibited at international shows like the Paris Salon, where he won a bronze medal in 1890 for his painting After the Bath.[2] He was known for his often sentimental nudes and for his pictures of the charm of children.[4] Childhood effectively became the artist's "brand" with the public success of After the Bath.[6] He was also among the first Canadian painters to explore the nude as a subject.[7]
He contracted a lung infection and died in his sleep, in Paris, France, at the age of 31.[2]
His childhood home is one of the many attractions at the Fanshawe Pioneer Village in London, Ontario.
Major works
editListed chronologically:
- Devotion (1881)
- Listening to the Skylark (1884)
- Mother and Child (1888)
- The Young Botanist (1888–1890)
- A Venetian Bather 1889
- Portrait of Gloria Roberts (1889)
- After the Bath (1890)
- The Young Biologist (1891)
- The Little Shepherdess (1892)
- Robert Andre Peel (c. 1892)
- Bennett Jull (1889–1890)
Record sale prices
editAt the June 8, 2023, Cowley Abbott auction Artwork from an Important Private Collection - Part II, The Young Gleaner (1888), oil on canvas, 33 x 23.25 ins ( 83.8 x 59.1 cms ), Auction Estimate: $150,000.00 - $200,000.00, realized a price of $408,000.00.[8]
References
edit- ^ Newlands, Anne. Canadian Paintings, Prints, and Drawings. Firefly Books, 2007. Page 240–41. ISBN 1-55407-290-5
- ^ a b c d e f MacDonald 1977, p. 1561-1566.
- ^ Belanger, Joe (2014). "Peel family affair on display". lfpress.com. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Baker, Victoria. "Article". cowleyabbott.ca. Cowley Abbott Auction. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ "Members since 1880". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ^ "Works". cowleyabbott.ca. Cowley Abbott Auction, An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art - Part III December 6th 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Paul Peel". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
- ^ "Article". cowleyabbott.ca. Cowley Abbott Auction. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
Bibliography
edit- Victoria Baker, Paul Peel: A Retrospective, 1860-1892 (London Regional Art Gallery: London ON, 1986) ISBN 0-920872-74-3
- Boyanoski, Christine (2015). "Figures in the Landscape en plein air". Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven. Ian M. Thom (ed.). Vancouver and London, Eng.: Vancouver Art Gallery and Black Dog Publishing. pp. 59ff. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- Bruce, Tobi; Cable, Patrick Shaw (2011). The French Connection: Canadian Painters at the Paris Salons 1880-1900. Hamilton, Ontario: Art Gallery of Hamilton. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
- MacDonald, Colin (1977). A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (First ed.). Ottawa: Canadian Paperbacks Publishing. Retrieved 10 August 2020.