Constantin Guys (1802 - 1892)
Tänzerin im Reifrock ca. 1860/70 - Constantin Guys
Biography
Constantin Guys (Vlissingen 1802 - Parijs 1892) was oorlogscorrespondent, aquarellist en tevens illustrator voor Britse en Franse kranten. Baudelaire noemde hem de schilder van het moderne leven.
Naast oorlogscènes, vaak met paarden, schilderde Guys ook vaak revue artiestes, bordeelhoudsters, etc.
Guys werd in Nederland aan de vergetelheid ontrukt door het boek Au pair van Willem Frederik Hermans waar één van de hoofdpersonen eindeloze monologen over deze kunstenaar houdt. --http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Guys [Dec 2004]
[...] Baudelaire described him as "the painter of modern life", the title of a series of articles dedicated to him in the Figaro in November and December 1863, the time at which these drawings were done. The profound originality of his art and his vivid portrayal of the pleasures and solemnity of the Second Empire justify the title given to him by the poet. Constantin Guys left us a considerable number of drawings inspired by everyday life and executed with a quick stroke of pencil, pen or brush, then often washed with watercolour. War scenes, sumptuous carriages, sleazy bars and brothels, dandies, fashionable ladies, tarts and girls found in him an indefatigable historiographer. He loved horses and carriages, imperial feast days and military processions, but above all he sketched women, of all classes of society, his passionate gaze capturing their character in just a few, swift strokes. --http://www.tasc.ac.uk/depart/media/staff/ls/WBenjamin/CGuys/Portrait%20d'un%20artiste%20%20Constantin%20Guys.htm [Dec 2004]
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