Eugene Carriere was the eighth of nine children in a poor family. He was born in a small town near Paris, later the family lived in Strasbourg. There the young Carriere completed a five-year training with a lithographer. Afterwards, very much against his father's will, he decided to go to Paris and begin studies at the art academy there. But after only one year he voluntarily joined the army and became a German prisoner of war. Back in Paris the artist married Sophie Desmouceaux. The couple had seven children. At that time, Carriere had only moderate success as a painter and had to take on occasional jobs in order to provide for the family. He designed greeting cards and worked in a porcelain manufactory. At work he also met the later famous sculptor Auguste Rodin, who also had to earn a living here and became his friend.
Eugene Carriere did not become a truly successful painter until he was about forty years old. He won an art prize and had several exhibitions that made him better known in the Parisian salons. When he was still impecunious, he could not afford models and therefore often painted the members of his large family. Now his models belonged to the famous and influential Parisian families or were celebrities like the poet Paul Verlaine, the dancer Isadora Duncan or the politician and statesman Georges Clemenceau. Carriere had a very own style of painting. His portraits almost always have a monochrome dark grey-brown background and the facial features of the people portrayed seem to stand out somewhat shadowily from a gloomy misty environment. This gives his pictures something very special and intimate,
In 1899 the artist founded the Académie Carrière. Henry Matisse and Alain Derain were among his students here. Eugene Carriere died at the age of 57, after suffering from throat cancer for several years, in his villa in Montmartre/Paris. During his lifetime a very appreciated painter, Carriere fell into oblivion after his death and he stood in the shadow of more famous French painters of his time. On the 100th anniversary of his death this changed somewhat when the Musee d`Orsay Paris, where many of his paintings hang, honoured him with a large solo exhibition.
Eugene Carriere was the eighth of nine children in a poor family. He was born in a small town near Paris, later the family lived in Strasbourg. There the young Carriere completed a five-year training with a lithographer. Afterwards, very much against his father's will, he decided to go to Paris and begin studies at the art academy there. But after only one year he voluntarily joined the army and became a German prisoner of war. Back in Paris the artist married Sophie Desmouceaux. The couple had seven children. At that time, Carriere had only moderate success as a painter and had to take on occasional jobs in order to provide for the family. He designed greeting cards and worked in a porcelain manufactory. At work he also met the later famous sculptor Auguste Rodin, who also had to earn a living here and became his friend.
Eugene Carriere did not become a truly successful painter until he was about forty years old. He won an art prize and had several exhibitions that made him better known in the Parisian salons. When he was still impecunious, he could not afford models and therefore often painted the members of his large family. Now his models belonged to the famous and influential Parisian families or were celebrities like the poet Paul Verlaine, the dancer Isadora Duncan or the politician and statesman Georges Clemenceau. Carriere had a very own style of painting. His portraits almost always have a monochrome dark grey-brown background and the facial features of the people portrayed seem to stand out somewhat shadowily from a gloomy misty environment. This gives his pictures something very special and intimate,
In 1899 the artist founded the Académie Carrière. Henry Matisse and Alain Derain were among his students here. Eugene Carriere died at the age of 57, after suffering from throat cancer for several years, in his villa in Montmartre/Paris. During his lifetime a very appreciated painter, Carriere fell into oblivion after his death and he stood in the shadow of more famous French painters of his time. On the 100th anniversary of his death this changed somewhat when the Musee d`Orsay Paris, where many of his paintings hang, honoured him with a large solo exhibition.
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