Louis Welden Hawkins
Encyclopedia
Louis Welden Hawkins was born in Germany of English parents, later taking French nationality. He was a detailed Symbolist painter.
Hawkins moved soon to France and later took French nationality. Hawkins attended the Académie Julian
in Paris. Hawkins rose to fame after his expositions in the Salon de la Société des Artistes Francais. His first works were shown in the Salon in 1881. After that, expositions followed at the Salon de la Société des Beaux Artes (1894–1911), the Salon de la Rose+Croix (1894–95) and La Libre Esthétique
in Brussels.
He spent his last years in Brittany, where he painted mostly landscapes.
Louis Welden Hawkins died on 1 May 1910 and was honoured a year later at the Salon Nationale.
, Hawkins chose the path of Symbolism. Symbolism began as an artistic movement that developed from Romanticism in France in the second half of the 19th century, taking its themes of decadence, dandyism and mysticism. Symbolism was a reaction to the impressionism
. Symbolist painting emphasized fantasy and imagination in their depiction of objects. Symbolist artists often used metaphors and symbols to suggest a subject and favored mystical themes. Hawkins became famous because of his fine and dreamy female portraits.
Life
Louis Welden Hawkins was born in Stuttgart, Germany on 1 July 1849. His mother was an Austrian Baroness, his father an Englishman.Hawkins moved soon to France and later took French nationality. Hawkins attended the Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
in Paris. Hawkins rose to fame after his expositions in the Salon de la Société des Artistes Francais. His first works were shown in the Salon in 1881. After that, expositions followed at the Salon de la Société des Beaux Artes (1894–1911), the Salon de la Rose+Croix (1894–95) and La Libre Esthétique
La Libre Esthétique
La Libre Esthétique was an artistic society founded in 1893 in Brussels to continue the efforts of the artists' group Les XX dissolved the same year...
in Brussels.
He spent his last years in Brittany, where he painted mostly landscapes.
Louis Welden Hawkins died on 1 May 1910 and was honoured a year later at the Salon Nationale.
Periods, themes and styles
After his education at the Académie JulianAcadémie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
, Hawkins chose the path of Symbolism. Symbolism began as an artistic movement that developed from Romanticism in France in the second half of the 19th century, taking its themes of decadence, dandyism and mysticism. Symbolism was a reaction to the impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
. Symbolist painting emphasized fantasy and imagination in their depiction of objects. Symbolist artists often used metaphors and symbols to suggest a subject and favored mystical themes. Hawkins became famous because of his fine and dreamy female portraits.