In the French Republic in the middle of the 19th century, between the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian War, Charles Cottet made a name for himself among the quite numerous and diverse representatives of Post-Impressionism.
The son of a judge found his way to painting at an early age - the well-off family enabled the then 17-year-old to study at one of the most famous art academies in France: the Ecole des beaux-arts des Paris. However, the tendency towards Impressionism and its further development only crystallized for him later. Cottet initially studied the craft of various currents: From the biblical sceneries and wall paintings of an Puvis de Chavannes to the beginning naturalistic open-air painting of Alfred Philippe Roll up to the Academie Julian, where he learned from the representatives of salon and nude painting. The Ecole des beaux-arts des Paris was the decisive center where a young painter was allowed to look into the kaleidoscope of the visual arts.
Cottet didn't stay long in Paris. Four years after he began his studies he travelled to Holland. The rather chromatic, uncontoured landscape painting of the Hague School there probably influenced him. Especially his harbour paintings at the beginning of the 20th century remind of the partly dark style of these painters. Two years later he discovered Brittany for himself and returned there many times. It seems that Cottet was able to combine the impressions from Holland with the reverberating impressionism of France here, to express a feeling of the well-known, the arriving in his works, which can be accompanied by blind joy as well as a certain melancholy. The young painter from France began to find his way.
Almost black silhouettes of small boats in a glassy, fragile evening mood or snapshots of rural get-togethers - he seemed to want to chisel the earthy, full-bodied roots with the land out of his paintings. His brushstrokes are reminiscent of the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, the well-known contemporary sculptor with whom he had a friendship. His strong, dark style of painting inspired. Around him the "Bande noire" was formed, an artists' association that offered a contrast to the light-flooded Impressionism. He also joined the like-minded group "Les Nabis", which devoted itself to design with multiple art techniques. Although the Breton ports and coasts were the focus of his work, he undertook numerous journeys. His main motif, the port, represents Cottet's attachment to the place and his wanderlust at the same time.
His artistic and partly ethnographic merits were honoured in his later years - including the French Order of an Officer of the Legion of Honour. Cottet's creative life finally ended where his career once began: in Paris.
In the French Republic in the middle of the 19th century, between the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian War, Charles Cottet made a name for himself among the quite numerous and diverse representatives of Post-Impressionism.
The son of a judge found his way to painting at an early age - the well-off family enabled the then 17-year-old to study at one of the most famous art academies in France: the Ecole des beaux-arts des Paris. However, the tendency towards Impressionism and its further development only crystallized for him later. Cottet initially studied the craft of various currents: From the biblical sceneries and wall paintings of an Puvis de Chavannes to the beginning naturalistic open-air painting of Alfred Philippe Roll up to the Academie Julian, where he learned from the representatives of salon and nude painting. The Ecole des beaux-arts des Paris was the decisive center where a young painter was allowed to look into the kaleidoscope of the visual arts.
Cottet didn't stay long in Paris. Four years after he began his studies he travelled to Holland. The rather chromatic, uncontoured landscape painting of the Hague School there probably influenced him. Especially his harbour paintings at the beginning of the 20th century remind of the partly dark style of these painters. Two years later he discovered Brittany for himself and returned there many times. It seems that Cottet was able to combine the impressions from Holland with the reverberating impressionism of France here, to express a feeling of the well-known, the arriving in his works, which can be accompanied by blind joy as well as a certain melancholy. The young painter from France began to find his way.
Almost black silhouettes of small boats in a glassy, fragile evening mood or snapshots of rural get-togethers - he seemed to want to chisel the earthy, full-bodied roots with the land out of his paintings. His brushstrokes are reminiscent of the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, the well-known contemporary sculptor with whom he had a friendship. His strong, dark style of painting inspired. Around him the "Bande noire" was formed, an artists' association that offered a contrast to the light-flooded Impressionism. He also joined the like-minded group "Les Nabis", which devoted itself to design with multiple art techniques. Although the Breton ports and coasts were the focus of his work, he undertook numerous journeys. His main motif, the port, represents Cottet's attachment to the place and his wanderlust at the same time.
His artistic and partly ethnographic merits were honoured in his later years - including the French Order of an Officer of the Legion of Honour. Cottet's creative life finally ended where his career once began: in Paris.
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