Alphonse Osbert

Alphonse Osbert (March 23, 1857 - August 11, 1939) was a French Symbolist painter.

Educated at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, his earliest passion was for the great Spanish masters, partucularly Jusepe de Ribera. A shift away from his academic style took place in the late 1880s under the influence of several acquaintances associated with Post-Impressionism and Symbolism. Osbert abandoned naturalistic painting in favour of a Pointillist technique like that employed by Seurat and Signac. Also inspired by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and the Symbolists, he chose to forsake depiction of real-world subject matter, and developed a poetic visual language of his own. His signature style consists of ghostlike Muses in mysterious landscapes bathed in the unearthly light of a sun or moon, rendered with abundant use of the colour blue. In the 1890s he was associated with Joséphin Péladan and his order of Rosicrucianism.

Osbert's later works include a few commissioned murals, for sites including the Centre Thermal des Dômes in Vichy (1903 and 1904), and the Church Of Saint-Louis in Vichy (1915). [ [http://perso.orange.fr/carteret/Patrimoine%20Vichy.htm Patrimoine Vichy ] at perso.orange.fr] An overview of his career titled [http://www.amazon.fr/dp/2271062977 'Le peintre symboliste Alphonse Olbert'] , written by Véronique Dumas, was published by CNRS in 2005.

References

* Gibson, Michael. "Symbolism". Koln: Benedikit Taschen Verlag. 1995. ISBN 3-8228-9324-2.

External links

* [http://www.artnet.com/library/06/0640/T064066.asp Alphonse Osbert biography at artnet]
* [http://www.symbolistart.net/osbert.php Osbert paintings at symbolistart.net]
* [http://www.vichyvirtuel.com/peinturedomes.html Centre Thermal des Dômes at Virtual Vichy (French language site - turn around to take a look at the mural's twin)]