| Biography of old oil painting master Joseph Rodefer
DeCamp what we can copy |
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Joseph Rodefer Decamp
American Impressionist painter
born 1858 - died 1923
Also known as: Joseph Rodefer Decamp.
Student of:
Frank
Duveneck (1848-1919).
Teacher of:
Margaret Fitzhugh Browne
(1884-1972), Amy M.
Sacker (1876-1965) |
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Joseph Rodefer DeCamp, a
native of Boston, was known for his figure
paintings of women in interiors and in nude
poses, portraits and some landscapes. His
work reflected both realism and
impressionism, and as an evolving
impressionist Joseph Rodefer DeCamp was one of the "The Ten", a
group of ten American painters whose members
with avant-garde ideas about painting styles
and exhibitions rebelled against the more
staid Society of American Artists. It is
said that after his affiliation with The Ten
and especially after spending time in
Gloucester, summer of 1900, with
Frank Duveneck
and
John
Twachtman, DeCamp became much
more committed to Impressionism.
In 1875, at the age of seventeen, Joseph
DeCamp began his art career by studying in
Munich under
Frank
Duveneck. The Dutch Masters,
whose work Joseph Rodefer DeCamp saw in Holland, especially
that of Jan Vermeer, influenced many of his
future paintings, most often female figures
near a window, bathed in the light from the
exterior. |
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He returned to Boston in 1880, and
established a career as a teacher and
portrait painter. DeCamp had been a
prominent member of The Boston School of
painting, which focused in realistic style
primarily on figural subjects of beauty,
elegance and refinement. A DeCamp portrait
in this style and one of particular
significance is that of Theodore Roosevelt,
which Joseph Rodefer DeCamp painted for Roosevelt's Harvard
classmates. Even this formal portrait shows
the influence of Vermeer in the broad
expanse of wall and the use of atmospheric
light which serves as a backdrop to
silhouette Roosevelt. |
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Because portrait painting was his focus,
only relatively few landscapes by DeCamp
are found. However, this circumstance likely
is affected by the studio fires that
occurred in Boston in the Harcourt Building
in 1904, where hundreds of paintings were
destroyed.
DeCamp also was an art educator with a
long-time teaching assignment at the
Massachusetts Normal Art School in Boston.
Other teaching assignments were the Boston
Museum School of Fine Art and the
Pennsylvania Academy.
- - oil on canvas 27 1/4 x 24 1/8 in. (69.2
x 61.3 cm.)PROVENANCEEstate of the
artistAlexander Moffatt, Manchester,
MassachusettsMarine Arts Gallery, Salem,
MassachusettsEXHIBITEDPhiladelphia,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
Exhibition of Paintings by Ten American
Painters, April-May 1908, no. 24Boston, St.
Botolph Club, Feb.-Mar. 1911Boston, St.
Botolph Club, Memorial Exhibition of the
Work of Joseph Rodefer Decamp, Jan. 1924,
no. 32, as ll Pensieroso (possibly this
work)Pittsburgh, Museum of Art, Carnegie
Institute. Directions in American Painting
1875-1925, June-Aug. 1982, pp. 28-29, illus.
(this exhibition travelled to various
locations, 1982-1987)Youngstown, Youngstown
State University, The John J. McDonough
Museum of Art, Inaugural Exhibition, Oct.
1991-May 1992, p. 26LITERATUREW. H. Downes,
"Joseph DeCamp and His Work," Art and
Progress, April 1913, p. 921W. H. Downes,
Dictionary of American Biography, New York,
1959, p. 186RELATED LITERATURER. V. S.
Berry, "Joseph Decamp: Painter and Man,"
American Magazine of Art, April 1923, pp.
183-184La Penserosa, or the thoughtful one,
was one of ten works that DeCamp sent to
the major retrospective of the Ten's
paintings held at the Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts in 1908, and was probably
painted after a devastating fire in his
studio in 1904 destroyed much of his
previous work. |
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It is typical
of his interior figure scenes of the period
in its dramatic side-lighting and focus on
the mood rather than the features of the
sitter. Decamp's student at the
Massachusetts Normal Art School, Rose V. S.
Berry, later described his painting method
as follows: "DeCamp seldom required a
fixed, rigid pose of his model. Joseph Rodefer
DeCamp walked
around the sitter, Joseph Rodefer DeCamp felt of the head,
discovered the texture of the ear, examined
its placement upon the head, and proceeded
in general with much the line of attack
which a sculptor takes..." (Berry, pp.
183-184). The tactile quality of Decamp's
surfaces reflects this approach, as does the
strong modeling of his figures.In his
article on DeCamp for the Dictionary of
American Biography, William Howe Downes
lists La Penserosa as one of Decamp's best
known figure pieces. |
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