The Landscapes of Henri Rivière

The Landscapes of Henri Rivière
Selections from the Elisabeth Dean Collection of French Prints

When:  Tues., June 10 – Sun., August 17, 2008
Where: Moradian Gallery of French Art
Conversation with the Collector: Thurs., June 19, 12:00 noon

Elisabeth Dean has selected twenty-two woodcuts, lithographs and etchings of the French landscape drawn from her impressive collection of Henri Rivière prints. It is an enchanting exhibition of work completed during a transitional period of political, social and scientific movements, a time when artistic and intellectual ideas ushered in a new era of modernism in which art began to explore the subtleties of individual perception. It was a time when many artists of the nineteenth century experimented with new ideas and techniques, when the world opened to ideas of democracy and equality casting aside ethnocentric points of view. Artists, particularly the Impressionists, were struck by the way in which space and form was treated in Japanese art, and they began to apply this new inspiration to their own work. Printmaking, which once had been viewed as a means for reproduction or as a way to make social and political commentary, began to be seen as a distinct and separate art form – serious artists began to view etchings and lithographs as equal alternatives to painting.

In the following paragraphs, Victoria Dailey explores the unique contribution of Henri Rivière. Drawn from her 1983 introduction to Armond Fields book, Rivière, is an overview of an artist who came of age during this same transitional period

“Of all the artists who mastered graphic techniques in the period of 1890 through 1910, it is Henri Rivière who stands foremost as a landscapist. In his art, the seashore, waves, cliffs, rocks, and trees predominate. Man and his effects form a secondary, but complementary, part of his pictures. When people are portrayed, it is the life of the group, not the individual, which is shown: the everyday life of villagers washing laundry, attending a funeral, returning home from the fields or preparing to set sail for the day’s catch of fish; these are the scenes Rivière shows us. Nature always dominates in his scenes, whether it be a view of a Breton bay with a small sailboat being swept along by the wind, or young boys climbing over massive rocks, their small forms overshadowed by the hugeness of the land. More often than not, it is Nature herself which Rivière strove to reveal waves crashing on rocks, a snowstorm blanketing a village, sunrise, sunset, moonrise, a rainbow over a field, the changing seasons. It is not a harsh, terrifying Nature he paints, but rather, a peaceful, benevolent one, contemplative and harmonious. These images occur over and over again in all of his graphic series, Le Beau Pays de Bretagne, Au Vent de Noroit, Les Aspects de la Nature, La Fèerie des Heures. Even in his series of Paris, tellingly titled Parisian Landscapes, Rivière shows the city in landscape terms. His broad horizons and vistas are seen from vantage points high enough atop the Butte Montmartre or Notre Dame to show panoramic views, while scenes taken at a low angle, the edge of the Seine, show a wide, low horizon. While Lautrec excelled at portraying the demimonde and theatrical worlds, Bonnard concentrated on the lively activities of Parisians, Vuillard revealed Parisian interiors, Lunois created scenes of the exotic and far-away, and Redon opened the world of mystery and imagination, it was Rivière who concentrated on the land and sea, on the countryside and its changing attributes.

The majority of Rivière’s work and nearly all of his graphic oeuvre was done in the 1890s and early 1900s, yet he continued to paint until his death in 1951. He seemed not to care that he was not represented by any gallery, or that his work was rarely publicly exhibited; he seems to have been content existing outside the circles and movements which flourished around him after the First World War. But until the early years of the twentieth century, Rivière was an active participant in the Parisian art world, enjoyed popular and critical success, and was very much a part of the avante-garde printmaking revolution.

From his earliest years Rivière had the desire to become an artist, and although faced with parental discouragement, little money, and very brief training, he nevertheless pursued his goal with determination and enthusiasm, qualities which would characterize him throughout his life. Rivière pursued his object regardless of outside influences or pressures. During the course of his career, his art teacher, his printer, his patron, and his publisher all died in the midst of working with Rivière, yet he persistently continued to work on his own, in his own fashion, productively and creatively, despite these dramatic setbacks. Rivière was concerned with the process of art. He diligently taught himself the arts of woodcutting, photography, and ceramics. He habitually learned new skills by doing them, receiving little or no instruction from anyone else. He became an artist despite his lack of training; he became a connoisseur and collector without the advantages of great wealth, a fine education, or family tradition. His sensibilities and sensitivities were such that he was able to lead a life of creativity and productivity, integrity and achievement, fulfilling all that he undertook.”