Portrait of Jeanne KéferGetty Publications, 2004 - 108 pages The Belgian artist, illustrator, sculptor, and photographer Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921) became a popular society portraitist in the 1880s, using elements that had served him well as an avant-garde symbolist painter: visual realism and a mood of silence, isolation, and reverie. As in the provocative yet hauntingly beautiful Portrait of Jeanne K fer, which is the focus of this book, he frequently posed his models leaning against a closed door, flattening the space and resulting in a meditative, hermetically sealed image. Jeanne K fer was the daughter of a composer friend of the artist, and Khnopff deftly captured the child's vulnerability to the outside world in the small gesture of her tiny thumb catching the edge of her bow. The book places this painting in the historical context of Khnopff's times and social milieu, such as the advent of symbolism as a literary and artistic movement and the influence of James McNeill Whistler. The analysis of the portrait is supported by a stunning array of related paintings, details, and technical photographs. Finally, the author uses Khnopff's portraits as a springboard for a broader discussion of symbolist art. |
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act of looking Anna Boch Antwerp appears Archives artist avant-garde Beaux-Arts de Belgique Belgian body Brussels Caron Cecily Alexander child color composition concept decorative defines detail doll door Draguet Émile Ensor exhibited eyes face feminine Fernand Khnopff Flemish primitives flower frame gaze Getty girl glazes Gustave Kéfer harmony Hecht FIGURE 19 icon ideal James McNeill Whistler Jeanne Kéfer Figure Jeune Belgique L'Art Moderne La Jeune Belgique Les XX Lewis Carroll McNeill Whistler Memling motif Musées royaux Museum nature object Octave Maus oeuvre Oil on canvas paint handling painter palette Paris photogenetic drawing photographic Picard pictorial Portrait of Jeanne Portrait of Mademoiselle Portrait of Marguerite portrait painting pose Private collection Realist reality reference reflection relationship render representation reveals Rose Caron royaux des Beaux-Arts Rysselberghe Salon sensation staging studio surface symbolic Symbolist tableau vivant Théo van Rysselberghe varnish Verhaeren woman Yvonne Suys