Russell, John Peter

J.P. Russell was born into a wealthy family of Scottish engineer John Russell, his mother was a native of London . The boy’s father was a child in Australia and later became a co-owner of an engineering company. Interest in painting appeared in Russell Jr. as a child.

J.P. Russell received an engineering degree. After the death of his father in 1879, having inherited a great fortune, Russell decided to devote himself to art and in January 1881 entered courses at the London School of Fine Arts Slade , where he studied for 7 years. In London, Russell's teacher was Alfons Legros , then in Paris Fernand Cormon , at whose school Russell met and made friends with Vincent van Gogh . In 1888, an Australian artist married the model of Auguste Rodin , the beautiful Italian Marianne Antoinette Mattioccio. In the same year, the family left for Brittany and Russell built a manor on the Isle of Belle-Ile .

In 1897 and in 1898, Russell was visited by Belle Ильle by Henri Matisse . Russell introduced his guest to impressionist painting and the work of Van Gogh, who was then still little known. After meeting Russell, Matisse admitted: Russell was my teacher. He explained to me the theory of color . In turn, Van Gogh highly appreciated Russell's talent and after his first summer season in 1888 in Arles sent an Australian to evaluate 12 paintings painted then. Claude Monet often worked with Russell.

After the death of Marianne in 1908, Russell left Belle-Ile and came to Paris. In 1912, he remarried - to American singer Caroline de Witt Merrill. During the First World War , in 1915 , the artist left for England . After the war ended, Russell and his family lived for 2 years in New Zealand , then moved to Sydney.

Initially, the artist was mainly engaged in portraiture. Then he painted landscapes and sea landscapes, as well as family paintings. After returning to Australia, he mainly creates watercolors on the themes of port life. The work of J.P. Russell was highly appreciated by such masters as Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, among the friends of the artist were the largest sculptors of France - Auguste Rodin and Emmanuel Fremier .

At the same time, Russell's work was not widely known, primarily because he, being a very wealthy man, did not put up his paintings for sale and did not participate in exhibitions. Russell is one of the so-called "lost impressionists." However, in recent years there has been an increasing interest in the newly discovered artist. His daughter gave the Louvre 21 paintings of his father, and now they can be seen in the Museum of Rodin . Some of his works are Australian museums. In 2002, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney organized an exhibition: Belle Ile: Monet, Russell and Matisse in Brittany . Created by Russell in 1886, the portrait of Van Gogh is kept at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam .

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  J.P. Russell . Portrait of Van Gogh, 1886

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  J.P. Russell . Stormy Sea, 1900

• Galbally, Ann: The Art of John Peter Russell , Sun Books, Melbourne, 1977. ISBN 0-7251-0271-3
• Onfray, Claude-Guy: Russell ou la lumière en héritage , Lorisse-Le livre d'histoire, Paris, 1995. ISBN 2-84178-019-8
• Galbally, Ann: A Remarkable Friendship: Vincent van Gogh and John Peter Russell , Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2008. ISBN 978-0-522-85376-6