Sharjah: Aladdin Mahmoud
The painter Stanhope Alexander Forbes (1857 1947), is one of the British artists and the broadest knowledge of many artistic styles, he was educated at Dulwich College in Britain, and the Lambeth School of Art and schools, and in 1880 he went to Paris, where he was influenced by the French artist Jules Bastien Lepage, the following year He went to work in Cancale, a small fishing village near Saint-Malo in Brittany, and following completing his studies there, he returned to London and exhibited the work he had done in Brittany, a cultural region located in northwestern France, and exhibited in 1883 at the Académie Property.
In 1884, he moved to the town of Newlyn in Cornwall in Britain, and soon became a prominent figure in that area which served as a colony of artists. ».
The painting “Street in Brittany” is considered one of the most famous paintings by Forbes, and it is a work of art preferred by many, and it belongs to his stylistics, his passion for the place, his proximity to people and living their concerns. From Brittany and its wonderful lighting, apart from cheap living, and its proximity to the sea, where they were fascinated by the life of fishermen, and the daily facts in the harbor and nearby villages. This, the artist expresses his love for the place that was associated with the most important stages of his life, and has always been longing for it.
Vision
Forbes painted a “Street in Brittany” in 1881, while he was living in Cancale, the capital of the province of Brittany. And dust and intrusive people, the artist often painted landscapes and daily life activities. And his paintings reflect his love for life and his sympathy with people and identification with them, and in that region Forbes painted scenes in the open air, in which he was able to find everything he wanted from inherited traditions, ancient language and conservative style, and he was strongly biased to the beauty of nature in the countryside, so he strongly accepted the painting .
Forbes practiced drawing and creativity in Brittany with great dedication and creativity, and for the popularity of his drawings, people were able to understand their meanings and messages, and this did not like some critics who thought that his works lacked visions, meanings and ideas.
a description
The painting shows a street that is closer to the narrow alley by the sea, which separates the old buildings, and it is teeming with young and young girls, dressed in the same clothes that indicate poverty and misery, and they stand lined up on one side of the alley and seem to engage in their work such as weaving and making nets And preparing brooms and some household appliances, and one of the young women at the forefront of the painting called “Desire” was working in the hotel where the artist resides, but the hotel management expelled her following she was accused of theft, so the artist asked her to use her as a model, and she insisted on paying her a daily wage, So, Forbes agreed to that request, and the painting reflects the ingenuity in employing lighting and shadows, and the colors that express the place in its different degrees, especially blue and some degrees of brown and white.
echo
Despite this concern Forbes, the painting succeeded, especially when it was shown for the first time at the Royal Academy of Arts following his return from France in 1882, and was sold in the same year to the Walker Gallery of Art in Liverpool, and became the center of the admiration of critics.