Akira Kondo, "Poussin, the Father of Painting" Summary and Impressions - Biography of the great painter of ideal landscapes who became the norm for the French Academy.
Introduced here is "Poussin, the Father of Painting" by Akira Kondo, published by Shinchosha in 1974.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
Poussin, the greatest painter of the modern era, was the mentor of Cézanne and Picasso. This is the first full-fledged study of Poussin's tumultuous life, from his days as a painter to his career as the chief royal painter of Louis XIII, drawing "allegory" from his glamorous history and mythological paintings.
Shinchosha, Akira Kondo, "Poussin, the Father of Painting," obi
Nicolas Poussin, introduced in this issue, is a previousToshiro Nakajima, "The English Way of Travel: From Grand Tours to Garden Culture," a recommended work explaining world travel as an essential education for aristocrats!As mentioned in the article "The History of Painting in Europe since the 17th Century," he has had a very significant impact on the history of European painting since the 17th century.
Poussin and his influence on Europe (especially the French Academy) is summarized in an easy-to-understand passage by Yasushi KimuraThe Revolution of Impressionism.I will cite it in this article.
Born into a bureaucratic aristocratic family, Poussin grew up with a Latin education, the elite education of the time. This education was not necessary for a boy who planned to become a painter at that time. Naturally, Poussin decided to pursue a career as a painter, overcoming his parents' great opposition.
Through the filter of the Academy, Poussin, with his wealth of knowledge, culture, aristocratic character, and high moral standards, was seen as the ideal image of Le Brun and other members who sought to break away from the artisan class, which was regarded as "lowly" by society.
Poussin did not want to pander to the masses, who lacked aesthetic sense and education, and avoided public works such as church altarpieces as much as possible, preferring to create private works for his wealthy and cultured upper-class clientele. As a result, he was able to create works that appealed to the intellect and reason and moved the viewer, rather than those that simply delighted the eye.
And Poussin, who believed that "the subject must be noble," saw the public as simply fascinated by color, which he considered vulgar. Therefore, in his paintings, he emphasized "form and composition," which appealed to the intellect and reason, rather than color, which appealed to the senses. Poussin's approach and theory became the official aesthetic code of the academy, or French Classicism.
Although Poussin spent most of the mature years of his life in Rome, he had many friends and clients in France who were considered the intellectual elite, through whom Poussin's work was brought to France.
Shueisha, Taiji Kimura, The Impressionist Revolution, p. 59-60
Poussin is characterized, as described here, by "painting works that appeal to the intellect and reason and move the viewer, rather than works that are simply pleasing to the eye.
Poussin's paintings, which dominated the 17th century, are richly sprinkled with "allegory. Poussin's paintings are overwhelmingly beautiful and immediately recognizable, but they also contain a great deal of "allegory," which cannot be understood without knowledge of the classics and a high level of understanding of painting.
This high level of culture and depth of aesthetic taste required was highly favored by the upper class of the time.
Poussin, the Father of Painting" follows the life of Poussin, the creator of such works. As mentioned in the obi, a biography of Poussin is extremely valuable.
While even a book on Italian painting in the 1600s is valuable to begin with, this book was very interesting to learn about Poussin's life and historical background as well.
In the afterword, the author also states
In France, even elementary school students know the name of this master, and in front of the Louvre's famous "Orpheus and Eurydice" and other works, students are lively debating whether "that is Picasso" or "that is Matisse". One of the reasons is that the tradition of regarding Poussin as a so-called academic painter is still firmly rooted in the country, and another reason - a trend that has become especially noticeable recently - is that the interpretation that tries to link his works with the baroque trend has taken precedence. Poussin's work has blossomed. It was not in a courtly or ecclesiastical climate that Poussin's work flourished, but in a freethinker's climate that the master's rich allegory and fresh, modern figurative transformations bore fruit. We must not forget that Rome, where he lived most of his life, was above all Galileo's Rome. In this book, I have particularly emphasized his connection with these freethinkers.
It is easy to call his mythological landscapes classicism, and I have already touched on this issue at the beginning of this book. However, Poussin's works in his later years, while adhering strictly to the classicist principle of emphasizing the frame of the tableau, created a new vision of the landscape, and it would be impossible to discuss his contribution to modern painting, especially his influence on Cézanne, without clarifying this issue. This is why I have ventured to take a risky gamble in the second half of this book.
Shinchosha, Akira Kondo, Poussin, the Father of Painting, p. 251
The author states that Poussin's appeal is not limited to "allegory. In the first place, the beauty of his paintings is also wonderful. The author suggests that we should not focus only on the theoretical "allegory" but also on the beauty of his paintings themselves, and that we should pay more attention to the secrets of his paintings.
What you will notice in this book is the author's love for Poussin. This book is a work that also shows the author's extraordinary love for Poussin.
This is a recommended Poussin biography and Poussin commentary by a Poussin-loving author.
I highly recommend this book.
The above is "Akira Kondo, "Poussin, the Father of Painting," a biography of the great master of ideal landscape painting who became the norm for the French Academy.
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