Jean-Jacques Henner

Jean-Jacques Henner

Self-portrait, 1877

Jean-Jacques Henner (15 March 1829 – 23 July 1905) was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects, and portraits.

Henner was born at Bernwiller (Alsace). He began his studies in art as a pupil of Michel Martin Drolling and François-Édouard Picot. In 1848, he entered the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, and took the Prix de Rome with a painting of Adam and Eve finding the Body of Abel in 1858. In Rome, he was guided by Flandrin, and painted four pictures for the gallery at Colmar among other works.

He first exhibited Bather Asleep at the Salon in 1863 and subsequently contributed Chaste Susanna (1865), now in the Musée d'Orsay. Other noted works include: Byblis turned into a Spring (1867); The Magdalene (1878); Portrait of M. Hayem (1878); Christ Entombed (1879); Saint Jerome (1881); Herodias (1887); A Study (1891); Christ in His Shroud and a Portrait of Carolus-Duran (1896); a Portrait of Mlle Fouquier (1897); and The Dream (1900).

The Levite of the Tribe of Ephraim (1898) was awarded a first-class medal. Among other professional distinctions, Henner also took a Grand Prix for painting at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1873, Officer in 1878, and Commander in 1889. In 1889, he succeeded Cabanel in the Institut de France.

Henner died at age 76 in Paris.

Pupils

Henner had numerous pupils; among them the Romanian artist Dimitrie Serafim. From 1874 to 1889, organized with Carolus-Duran, what he called "the studio of the ladies" for women were not allowed entry to the École des Beaux-Arts. Some also served as his models. One of these was Dorothy Tennant who later married Henry Morton Stanley.

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) also worked as one of his models.

Gallery

• Jean Jacques Henner - Reclining Nude.jpg

  Reclining Nude,
  National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

• 1865 Jean-Jacques Henner - Woman on a black divan.jpg

  Woman on a black divan,
  Musée des Beaux-Arts, Mulhouse

• Jean Jacques Henner - La liseuse.jpg

  La liseuse,
  Musée d'Orsay,
  Paris

• Jean Jacques Henner - Nus féminins.jpg

  Nus féminins
  Musée d'Orsay,
  Paris

• Jean Jacques Henner - Jesus at the Tomb.jpg

  Jésus au tombeau
  Musée d'Orsay,
  Paris

• 

  Jules Janssen
  Musée d'Orsay,
  Paris

• Jean Jacques Henner Portrait D-Homme.jpg

  Portrait d'homme
  Musée d'Orsay,
  Paris

• Jean Jacques Henner - Portrait of a Young Girl with a Bow in Her Hair.jpg

  "Portrait of a Young Girl with a Bow in Her Hair," private collection

• Jean Jacques Henner - Alsatian Girl.jpg

  "Alsatian Girl,"
  National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

• Jean Jacques Henner - Study Of A Woman In Red.jpg

  "Study of a Woman in Red," The Hermitage,
  St. Petersburg, Russia

• Jean Jacques Henner - A Red haired Beauty.jpg

  "A Red-Haired Beauty,"
  private collection

• Brooklyn Museum - Head of a Girl - Jean Jacques Henner.jpg

  Head of a Girl - Brooklyn Museum

• Jean Jacques Henner - The Chaste Susannah.jpg

  "The Chaste Susannah"
  Musée d'Orsay,
  Paris

• Jean Jacques Henner le reveil de l enfant.jpg

  Le réveil de l'enfant
  Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon

• 

  "Solitude,"
  private collection - Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, California

• 

  Idylle
  Musée d'Orsay,
  Paris

See also

• Musée national Jean-Jacques Henner

Bibliography

• E Bricon, Psychologie d'art (Paris, 1900); C Phillips, Art Journal (1888)
• Frederick Wedmore, Magazine of Art (1888).
• Isabelle de Lannoy, Catalogue raisonne Jean-Jacques Henner 1829-1905 [2008]

References

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