This portrait of a young girl has an intensely real quality. She is shown standing in a field, holding an earthenware pot, flanked by the spherical forms of flowering onion plants. The picture is influenced by the conventions of photography in its uncompromising directness. The girl is posing in a slightly awkward way, as if she were having a snapshot taken, showing none of the relaxed and confident attitudes of a professional model. Clausen represents the serious and somewhat doubtful expression on her face with great tenderness. He makes the viewer sense the mixed emotions that must have been in the mind of the child, confronted by the strange and foreign figure of the artist. Although the subtle colouring used by Clausen to some extent glamorises her peasant costume, we are still made aware of her life of poverty and hard work, indicated by the simplicity and homespun nature of her clothes.
George Clausen was a British painter who originally trained as a decorator. He studied painting at the South Kensington School of Art in London and the Antwerp Academy. The subject matter of this image is typical of the rustic scenes that Clausen favoured, partly as a result of the influence of French naturalism. This tendency, which first emerged in Clausen’s work in the late 1870s, was confirmed by his visit to the artists’ colony of Quimperlé in Brittany in 1882, when this picture was painted.
Physical description
Full length portrait of a young Breton girl, carrying a jar or jug of milk, standing with her hand on her hip in a field. She is wearing traditional rural dress with a white bonnet.
Place of Origin
Quimperlé, France (painted)
Date
1882 (painted)
Artist/maker
George Clausen, born 1852 - died 1944 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on canvas
Marks and inscriptions
'G CLAUSEN 1882 QUIMPERLÉ'
Dimensions
Height: 46 cm, Width: 27.7 cm, Height: 367 mm Frame, Width: 553 mm Frame, Depth: 55 mm Frame
Object history note
Bequeathed by Henry L. Florence, 1916
Historical context note
There is a striking similarity between Breton Girl Carrying a Jar and a work also painted in 1882 by Stanhope Alexander Forbes, The Orchard, Quimperle (lot 55 in Sotheby's, Victorian and Edwardian Art, 11 December 2007, London). Clausen joined Forbes in Brittany at this time.
Descriptive line
Oil painting entitled 'Peasant Girl Carrying a Jar, Quimperlé' by George Clausen R.A. British School, 1882.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Livingston, Karen and Parry, Linda, eds International Arts and Crafts. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2005. 368 p., ill. ISBN 1851774459.
John House and Mary Anne Stevens, eds. post-Impressionism: cross-currents in European Painting London: Royal Academy of Arts: 1979. ISBN: 0297777130.
Exhibition catalogue
Kenneth McConkey, ed. Sir George Clausen, R.A. 1852-1944: an exhibition organised by Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, and Tyne and Wear County Council Museums Bradford: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council; Gateshead: Tyne and Wear County Council, 1980. ISBN: 0905974042.
Exhibition catalogue
Kenneth McConkey Impressionsim in Britain New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the Barbican Art Gallery, 1995. ISBN: 0300063350.
Exhibition catalogue
Adrian Jenkins Painters and Peasants: Henry La Thangue and British rural Naturalism, 1880-1905 Bolton: Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, 2000.. ISBN: 0906585317.
Exhibition catalogue
Peintres Britanniques en Bretagne Pont-Aven: Musée de Pont-Aven, 2004. ISBN: 2910128326.
Exhibition catalogue
Exhibition History
Morris to Mingei (Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya 05/06/2009-16/08/2009)
Morris to Mingei (Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo 24/01/2009-05/04/2009)
Morris to Mingei (Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art 12/09/2008-09/11/2008)
International Arts and Crafts (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 18/03/2006-18/06/2006)
International Arts and Crafts (Indianapolis Museum of Art 27/09/2005-22/01/2006)
International Arts and Crafts (Victoria and Albert Museum 17/03/2005-24/07/2005)
Peintres Britanniques en Bretagne (Musée de Pont-Aven 26/06/2004-27/09/2004)
The Dignity of Humble People: Jean-Francois Millet & Naturalism in Europe (Fukuoka Museum of Art 01/01/2007-31/12/2103)
The Dignity of Humble People: Jean-Francois Millet & Naturalism in Europe (Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo 10/04/2003-13/07/2003)
Egisto Ferroni e il naturalismo agreste, de Courbet a Van Gogh (Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori 20/06/2002-01/09/2002)
Painters and Peasants (Bolton Museum and Art Gallery 08/04/2000-03/06/2000)
Naturalism in Belgium and Europe 1880-1910 (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp 24/11/1996-16/02/1997)
Impressionism in Britain (Barbican Art Gallery 19/01/1995-07/05/1995)
Sir George Clausen, R.A. 1852-1944 (Laing Art Gallery 18/10/1980-30/11/1980)
Post-Impressionism (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 22/05/1980-01/09/1980)
Post-Impressionism (Royal Academy of Arts 30/03/1979-17/11/1979)
Labels and date
[Label requested by Japanese museum]
"Peasant Girl, carrying a jar, Quimperlé"
Sir George Clausen RA
1882 oil on canvas, 70.3 x 51.7 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, England.
This portrait of a young girl has an intensely real quality. She is shown standing in a field, holding an earthenware pot, flanked by the spherical forms of flowering onion plants. The picture is influenced by the conventions of photography in its uncompromising directness. The girl is posing in a slightly awkward way, as if she was having a snapshot taken, showing none of the relaxed and confident attitudes of a professional model. Clausen represents the serious and somewhat doubtful expression on her face with great tenderness. He makes the viewer sense the mixed emotions that must have been in the mind of the child confronted by the strange and foreign figure of the artist. Although the subtle colouring used by Clausen to some extent glamorises her peasant costume, we are still made aware of her life of poverty and hard work, indicated by the simplicity and homespun nature of her clothes. [September 2002]
Materials
Oil paint; Canvas
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Pot; Quimperlé
Categories
Portraits; Children & Childhood; Paintings
Collection code
PDP
