Louis Welden Hawkins (1849–1910) was a

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

painter. He was born of English parents, later taking French nationality.

Life

He was born in Stuttgart, Germany on 1 July 1849. His mother was an Austrian Baroness, his father an Englishman. He soon moved to France and later took French nationality. He attended the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

in Paris. Hawkins rose to fame after his expositions in the Salon de la Société des Artistes Francais. His first works were shown in the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

in 1881. After that, expositions followed at the Salon de la Société des Beaux-Arts (1894–1911), the

Salon de la Rose + Croix Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

(1894–95) and

La Libre Esthétique ''La Libre Esthétique'' ( French; "The Free Aesthetics") was an artistic society founded in 1893 in Brussels, Belgium to continue the efforts of the artists' group ''Les XX'' dissolved the same year. To reduce conflicts between artists invited or ...

in Brussels. He lived for a period with

Camille Pelletan Charles Camille Pelletan (28 June 1846 – 4 June 1915) was a French politician, historian and journalist, Minister of Marine (France), Minister of Marine in Emile Combes' ''Bloc des gauches'' (Left-Wing Blocks) cabinet from 1902 to 1905. He was ...

, a radical socialist politician, and he continued to move in radical circles. In his ''Portrait of Séverine'' (1895), he shows a popular journalist, Séverine, who was a famous defender of humanitarian causes. He was also friendly with artists such as

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

and

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, whose portrait he painted.Biography
@ Stephen Ongpin Fine Art He spent his last years in Brittany, where he painted mostly landscapes. He died on 1 May 1910 and was honoured a year later at the Salon Nationale.

Style

After his education at the

, Hawkins chose the path of Symbolism. Symbolism began as an artistic movement that developed from Romanticism in France in the second half of the 19th century, taking its themes of decadence, dandyism and mysticism. Symbolism was a reaction to

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

. Symbolist painting emphasized fantasy and imagination in their depiction of objects. Symbolist artists often used metaphors and symbols to suggest a subject and favored mystical themes. Hawkins became famous because of his fine and dreamy female portraits.

Selected paintings

File:Louis Welden Hawkins - The Eiffel Tower as seen from The Trocadero.jpg, ''The

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

seen from the Trocadero'' File:Hawkins peasant.jpg, ''A Peasant'' (circa 1880) File:Portrait de femme (Hawkins).jpg, ''Portrait of a Woman'' File:Hawkins3.jpg, ''Procession of Souls'' (circa 1890) File:Hawkins7.jpg, ''Idyll'' (circa 1890)

Other selected works

* ''Le Foyer'', musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes. * Musée d'Orsay in Paris ** ''Le

Sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

et la Chimère'', 1906, oil, 80x73 cm ** ''Portrait de Jeune Homme'', 1881, huile sur toile, 57x44,5 cm * ''Une prière à Dieu'', 1900, watercolor * ''Procession des Âmes'', 1893, oil, 67.4 x 44 cm * ''L'Innocence'', about 1895, oil, 73 x 50.4 cm, Amsterdam, Van Gogh museum.

References

External links