John Russell
John Russell | 1858–1930 | La Pointe de Morestil par mer Calme (Calm Sea at Morestil Point) 1901 | Oil on canvas | 61 x 95cm | Gift of Lady Trout 1987 | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
La Pointe de Morestil par mer Calme (Calm Sea at Morestil Point) 1901
La Pointe de Morestil par mer Calme (Calm Sea at Morestil Point) 1901 is one of many seascapes that John Russell (1858–1930) painted on the storm-tossed island of Belle-Île off the coast of north-western France. Here, he painted in pure colours, under different weather conditions and at different times of the day. Russell spent the summer of 1886 sailing and sketching on Belle-Île. He chanced upon a new arrival painting on the windy cliff and recognising his style, Russell asked him: ‘Ne seriez vous Claude Monet, le prince des impressionists?’ (‘Aren’t you Claude Monet, prince of the impressionists?’). Flattered and amused, Monet allowed the young artist to paint with him, and thus he had a decisive influence on the development of Russell’s work.
Within two years Russell had changed his life. Leaving Paris behind, he became the first non-native to settle on the island. Building a large manor house the islanders called ‘Le Chateau de l’Anglais’, he welcomed a stream of visitors including Auguste Rodin, the Australian painter John Longstaff, and the young Henri Matisse, who became Russell’s friend and ‘pupil’ over the two summers of 1896–97. Inspired by Monet’s example, Russell declared to a fellow Australian artist that he now felt himself part of ‘a mighty revolution in art’ because ‘impressionism, as understood here, consists not of hasty sketches but in finished work in which the purity of colour and intention is kept’.
