Alfred William (Willy) Finch (1854 –1930) was a
ceramist and
painter in the
pointillist
Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.
Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" wa ...
and
Neo-Impressionist
Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the beginn ...
style. Born in Brussels to British parents, he spent most of his creative life in Finland.
Life and work
Alfred William Finch was born on 28 November 1854 in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
to British parents, Joseph Finch (a businessman) and Emma Finch (née Holach). He spent his youth in Ostende. When he was twenty-four he began studying for one year in Brussels at the
Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (french: Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts - École supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Bruxelles (ARBA-ESA), nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel), is an art school established in B ...
.
![James Ensor (1882) Portret van Willy Finch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/James_Ensor_%281882%29_Portret_van_Willy_Finch.jpg)
On 28 October 1883 he became a founding member of
Les XX
''Les XX'' ( French; "''Les Vingt''"; ; ) was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years, they held an annual exhibition of their ar ...
, a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, who rebelled against the prevailing artistic standards and outmoded academism. He was impressed by the works of
Georges Seurat
Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough su ...
and
Paul Signac
Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style.
Biography
Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. ...
and changed his own painting style from a more realistic approach into a pointillistic style. In the following years, Finch became one of the leading representatives of his style in Belgium, along with
Théo van Rysselberghe
Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian neo-impressionist painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century.
Biography
Early years
Born ...
.
During the early 1890s Finch switched careers from painting to pottery, upon the realization that he couldn't make a living by painting.
In 1897, invited by count
Louis Sparre
Pehr Louis Sparre af Söfdeborg (3 August 1863 – 26 October 1964) was a Sweden, Swedish painter, designer and draughtsman, most noted for his early work in the Finland, Finnish national romanticism and Jugendstil, jugend styles. He also co ...
, Finch moved to
Porvoo
Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...
, Finland, to head the Iris ceramics factory, and influenced the development of the local
Jugendstil
''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...
. After the factory was closed, Finch resumed his painting career.
![Alfred-William-Finch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Alfred-William-Finch.jpg)
Finch died in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
on 28 April 1930.
Works
References
External links
Alfred Finch biography on the Glasgow University web site
1854 births
1930 deaths
Belgian painters
Post-impressionist painters
Belgian potters
Finnish potters
Belgian people of British descent
Belgian expatriates in Finland
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