c. 1840-1845
Description
Pollock was not interested in creating realistic depictions of the world around him. Rather, he wanted his paintings to express emotions. He even numbered his works to avoid giving viewers any specific expectations about what they would see. The quintessential Barbizon artist, Rousseau was romantically in love with nature. He spent the better part of twenty years living in near poverty in a cottage in the village of Barbizon, painting in a converted barn. The Fisherman is an early drawing by the artist, probably executed on the outskirts of Paris. The tree, the foreground grasses and rocks, and the humble form of the fisherman at rest are rendered with great specificity. Rousseau thought of each tree in the Forest of Fontainebleau as being almost human, each marked by a particular fate and struggle.
Inscription: signed, lower left, in brown ink: TH. Rousseau ; VERSO OF SECONDARY SUPPORT, upper left, in graphite: 2830 [circled] ; upper left, in graphite: Th Rousseau / The Fisherman / id. x. x. ; upper left, in graphite: 52149 ; VERSO OF TERTIARY SUPPORT, upper right, in black fiber-tipped pen: D 19 [sideways]
Medium: pen and brown ink and brush, gray and black wash (scratched away in places), with touches of pink watercolor
Dimensions: Sheet: 20.9 x 28 cm (8 1/4 x 11 in.); Secondary Support: 20.9 x 28 cm (8 1/4 x 11 in.); Tertiary Support: 29.6 x 37.9 cm (11 5/8 x 14 15/16 in.)
Credit Line: John L. Severance Fund
Accesion Number: 1980.18
Image Licence
CC0 1.0
Image Credit
Image courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
Location
Forest of Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, France
Country
France
Tags
Category
Landscapes & Seascapes
