Title
Les Aiguilles de Coton, Belle-Île
1897
Artist
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Details
- Alternative title
- Port-Coton needles, Belle-Île
- Date
- 1897
- Media category
- Watercolour
- Materials used
- pencil, watercolour, gouache, on thick off-white wove paper
- Dimensions
- 55.7 x 38.9 cm sheet; 82.0 x 64.0 x 3.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.l. corner, red watercolour "JOHN RUSSELL. 1897".
- Credit
- Purchased 1974
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 66.1974
- Copyright
- Artist information
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John Russell
Works in the collection
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About
John Russell was the only Australian artist to have been closely associated with some of the most original and influential artists of late nineteenth century France, including Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse. He lived from 1888-1908 on the French island Belle-Île-en-Mer, off the coast of Brittany, attracted, like Matisse and Monet, by the wild, rocky landscape and the unpredictable waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Russell painted a number of key subjects on the island, including the sea, cliffs, rocks and portraits of his family and the local fisherman, Père Polyte. This watercolour depicts the 'Port-Coton needles', a distinctively shaped outcrop of rocks that rises from the water near the shore, a short distance from Russell's house.
© Australian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004
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Exhibition history
Shown in 5 exhibitions
John Peter Russell 1858-1931: Australian Impressionist (1965), Wildenstein Gallery, London, Jul 1965–Aug 1965
Nineteenth century Australian watercolours from the collection (1991), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Apr 1991–07 Jul 1991
Belle-Île: Monet, Russell & Matisse in Brittany, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 24 Nov 2001–03 Feb 2002
Belle-Île: Monet, Russell & Matisse in Brittany, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 14 Feb 2002–21 Apr 2002
19th century Australian watercolours, drawings & pastels, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Apr 2005–24 Jul 2005
John Russell, Australia’s French impressionist, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 Jul 2018–11 Nov 2018
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Bibliography
Referenced in 7 publications
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Ann Galbally, The art of John Peter Russell, Melbourne, 1977, 59 (illus.). cat.no. 30
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Works on Paper', pg. 182-197, Sydney, 1999, 189 (colour illus.).
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Hendrik Kolenberg, 19th century Australian watercolours, drawing and pastels from the Gallery's collection, 'Introduction', pg. 6-16, Sydney, 2005, 17 (colour illus., detail), 110, 111 (colour illus.).
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Hendrik Kolenberg, Nineteenth century Australian watercolours from the collection, Sydney, 1991. cat.no. 68
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Ursula Prunster, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Home and abroad', pg. 73-74, Sydney, 2000, 82 (colour illus.), 301.
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Ursula Prunster (Curator), Belle-Île: Monet, Russell & Matisse in Brittany, Sydney, 2001, 104 (colour illus.). cat.no. 34
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Donald Finley, John Peter Russell 1858-1931: Australian impressionist, London, 1965. cat.no. 41
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