Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Silver Surface



detail






Though born in Paris in 1873, Amedee Julien Marcel-Clement is best known for his scenes of boats along the coast of France.
To create an illusion of a silvery surface, he used a variety of cool greys, broken up by creams and whites, over a warm ground.
Once he found an effect that worked for him, he returned to it many times.
The repetition of similar elements in different paintings suggests that these are studio works constructed from sketches, rather than exact recordings of actual scenes executed on site. However the freshness and energy of the sketches survive in the final works.

Source of images: Burlington Paintings









3 comments:

Katherine Kean said...

Between the surf and the skies this collection shows an amazing range of greys - and quite beautiful.

jeronimus said...

Hi Katherine. Oils seem to lend themselves to beautiful greys. I love the bright green and purple shadows in his waves too.

Ed Cahill said...

Stunning color with the sand warm undertones and blue green over top then the reflections deftly applied,