Henri Rousseau

RESEARCH ON HENRI ROUSSEAU RESPONDING TO TUTOR FEEDBACK ON PAINTING

Henri Rousseau was a French painter born in 1844 in Laval, France. He was self taught, and although ridiculed by high art critics of the time, he went on to become an archetype for 'naive' painting style painting, and be praised by modern artistic greats such as Picasso and Kadinsky for the sincerity and directness of his work. Without any formal training, he took reference from both high and low art sources, resulting in odd hybrids of references and fantastical imagery, which also attracted acclaim from later Surrealists, who appreciated the dreamlike states depicted in Rousseau's paintings.

His most famous pieces were compositions of exotic jungle scenes which were inspired by trips of the Paris Zoo and gardens. Rousseau reportedly never left France, let alone witnessed any of the enviroments he painted. Because of this his paintings lacked a fixed perspective, and had irregulary proportions and unnatural colours, which is what made them align with the 'naive' style. He described himself as having 'no teacher other than nature' and was clearly deeply inspired by nature. This is highlighted in his description of the 'Jardin des plantes', the parisian gardens he spent so long within; "When I step into the hothouses and see the plants from exotic lands, it seems to me that I am in a dream."

I find this quite interesting to consider. There is something poetically dystopian about an artistically untrained customs officer, as Rousseau was initially, feeling so intensely captured and inspired by the flora and fauna he saw captive in mock naturalism in the centre of Paris that he should choose to dedicate a large part of his practice to painting such intense, vivid pieces of it in disjointed, dreamlike wilderness. One of his works, 'The Dream' (see left)
contained atleast 22 painstakingly mixed shades of green. This man felt such ressonance with the planet's natural diversity, despite having never truly witnessed it, or even travelled beyond his native country.

His works are paintings of real things, yet are not realised in a naturalistic way, and lack the true context which could have been gained by firsthand experience. I find Rousseau's experience draws interesting parallels to the situation many modern people find themselves in today. We are able to witness so much of nature at zoos and on the internet, however lack context for much of what we see, especially regarding our place as a species in that larger ecological context. Our understanding of the world is fragmented and on the whole underdeveloped, which is perhaps a leading cause of our apathy to ecological barriers. In 2014 BBC Gardeners World conducted a survey with the Daily Mail of more than 2000 people and found that 98% were unsuccesful at identifying a series of British plants, leaves and shrubs. Just one in 50 were able to identify all 5 species of tree presented. The lead editor of Gardeners World commented; ‘We seem to be losing touch with nature. Things that used to be common knowledge and part of our common folklore seem to be passing people by.’