chriswoodartist

Boudin in Trouville by Vivien Hamilton

In the 1970’s, when I was doing my post graduate course in illustration at Wimbledon College of art, I met a number of tutors who I formed an instant rapport with. One of whom was Terrence Dalley and it was he that introduced me to some of the precursors of Impressionism. Dutchman, Johann Bartold Jonkind was one and the other was Eugene Boudin (1824-98). Boudin encouraged Claude Monet to leave the studio and paint outside. He believed that everything painted on the spot had more strength and vigour – something I would wholeheartedly agree with.

I suspect that my tutor saw “Boudin” as a kindred spirit, as like me, his subject of choice was the sea and sky. Boudin spent the summer living and working on the coast and his winters in Paris, working in his studio. Not a bad life !

The book is an exhibition catalogue from the show that ran, firstly, in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow in 1992 and later in the Courtauld Institute Galleries, London in 1993.

I won’t dwell on the book/catalogue, suffice to say that Boudin was considered to be the father of Impressionism and he proved to be a big influence on my own work