Tuesday, August 23, 2011

ABC Wednesday
August 24th, 2011

Let's hear it for the formal letter F


F is for Alfred William Finch, who was born to English parents in 1854.  


His parents had moved to Belgium. where "Willy" was born and trained at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.  He became a founding member of Les XX, a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors who rebelled against the prevailing artistic standards and outmoded academism


He changed his own painting to the Pointillist and Neo Impressionist style, and became one of the leading representatives of his style in Belgium, along with Theo van Rysselberghe. 



The Cliffs at South Foreland in the Finnish National Gallery at Helsinki



Box at the Theatre in the Belgium Art Museum


Landscape Sunset at the Turku Art Museum in Finland


Eventually  he determined that he could not make a living as a painter and moved to Finland in 1897 at the invitation of Count Louis Sparre to become a Ceramist in the Iris Ceramics factory, but when the factory closed he went back to painting.


The Pointillist style of painting, though laborious and difficult, lends an amazing sense of movement to the painted landscape.


For more great F's visit here at Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday.

15 comments:

Leslie: said...

Fabulous choice for F week! When I was teaching, I did some exercises in pointillism with the kids and then went on to teach them about impressionism. They loved it and I had such fun watching them create! Have a fantastic week,

Leslie
abcw team

Sylvia K said...

Terrific post for the F Day, Hildred! Wonderful paintings and a very interesting man. Hope your week is going well!

Sylvia

Kay L. Davies said...

I was just thinking how difficult pointillism would be, when you mentioned it, but it certainly does make beautiful pictures.
— K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I see a few entries to this meme and I'm amazed at how you always come up with something so wonderful and so different!

I'm not familiar with this artist, but I LOVE the painting 'box at the theater'.....and everything about your post makes me want to see and learn more about him.

Roger Owen Green said...

fabulous faux Finn! fine artist.
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Chubskulit Rose said...

Finland is a beautiful country basing from what I've seen on Tv and online blogs!

Cheryl said...

Wow! I love this style of painting. He was truly talented. His landscapes are inspiring.

Tumblewords: said...

Fascinating choice!

photowannabe said...

Really very interesting. I don't think I would have the patience to do that. Now I have learned of another artist which was unknown before.

Unknown said...

I like his style. Loved learning about him this week for F words!

Reader Wil said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Reader Wil said...

Finch must have been a very great painter. I like the paintings you show us.

Kim, USA said...

Thanks for the information and these paintings are gorgeous!

ABC Wed

Carver said...

Fascinating post and fabulous choice for the letter F.

nonizamboni said...

Oh, a new artist to explore! An English ex-pat in Finland, to boot. Pointillism is mesmerizing to look at.
Great choice for today--hope you have a happy week!