It's been all over the news: with rich collectors buying less, Damien Hirst lays off most of his staff. The artist also added that he welcomed the prospect of selling his work at cheaper rates in the present climate of recession, and admitted that art had probably become too expensive in recent years. So much for a portrait of the artist as a poor man...
John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) is another one of those artists who became popular and pretty well-off financially when he was alive. Often classified as a Pre-Raphaelite for his style and themes, Waterhouse is truly a Neo-Classic painter. Some of his earlier works focused on Italian themes and scenery, reflecting his love for his birth place Rome. His style and classical themes did however become a major influence on many of the later Pre-Raphaelites including Frank Dicksee and Herber James Draper. He painted well over 200 paintings depicting classical mythology, historical and literary subjects, particularly those of Roman mythology and classic English poets such as Keats and Tennyson. Today, many of his works are in private collections and some even went MIA.
From December 14, 2008 until May 3, 2009, the
Groninger Museum, in the north of the Netherlands, will present the largest retrospective of Waterhouse’s art ever mounted. This exhibition will feature 92 paintings, drawings, and sketchbooks, and has been organised in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada. Works will come from public and private collections in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, the United States, Taiwan, and Canada. Few have ever been shown in continental Europe.
According to the Dutch press release
J.W. Waterhouse (1849-1917). The Modern Pre-Raphaelite is the first monographic exhibition about Waterhouse to be held since 1978. It is also the first to consider his entire career, demonstrating his engagement with contemporary trends ranging from antiquarianism to mystical spirituality. Moreover, since the general public knows relatively little about the man himself and his artistic production, the Groninger Museum exhibition will place Waterhouse’s most renowned works in their proper context to illustrate why he is such an important transmitter of the Classical and Romantic traditions. Again it will be stressed that Waterhouse is not just your average Pre-Raphaelite: although his work displays similarities with the emotionalism of D.G. Rossetti, J.E. Millais, and William Holman Hunt, it also is testimony to a keen awareness of the exciting technical innovations occurring in Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century. Thus he felt at home equally in the enchanted world of myth, legend, and poetry, and in the new ways of seeing triggered by Impressionism.
By the way: just like the more archetypical Pre-Raphaelites, Waterhouse had a particular fondness for beautiful elegaic
femmes fatales turning adoring men into willing victims. One Waterhouse ‘fan site’ even posts
pics of women who think they could have been a Waterhouse model. So very soon some Dutch ladies thinking they have
Belle Dame sans Merci-qualities may pop up there.
Along with this exhibition comes a comprehensive, fully illustrated catalogue which will be published in Dutch, English and French editions. This catalogue will contain substantial contributions and new research material.
Dates:
Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands:14 December 2008 – 3 May 2009
Royal Academy of Arts, London: 23 June – 13 September 2009
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: 1 October 2009 – 7 February 2010
Picture: John William Waterhouse, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May. c. 1908. Private collection
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