ART Education
Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau was born in Laval, France in 1844 into the family of a plumber. He attended Laval High School as a day student and then as a boarder, after his father became a debtor and his parents had to leave the town upon the seizure of their house. He was mediocre in some subjects at the high school but won prizes for drawing and music.[7] He worked for a lawyer and studied law, but "attempted a small perjury and sought refuge in the army,"[8] serving for four years, starting in 1863. Rousseau moved to Paris in 1868 to support his widowed mother as a government employee. In 1868, he married Clémence Boitard, his landlord's 15 year-old daughter, with whom he had six children (only one survived). In 1871, he was appointed as a collector of the octroi of Paris, collecting taxes on goods entering Paris. He started painting seriously in his early forties, and by age 49 he retired from his job to work on his art full-time. Rousseau claimed he had "no teacher other than nature",[3] although he admitted he had received "some advice" from two established Academic painters, Félix Auguste Clément and Jean-Léon Gérôme.[10] Essentially he was self-taught and is considered to be a naïve or primitive painter. His best known paintings depict jungle scenes, even though he never left France or saw a jungle. Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!) was exhibited in 1891, and Rousseau received his first serious review, when the young artist Félix Vallotton wrote: "His tiger surprising its prey ought not to be missed; it's the alpha and omega of painting." Yet it was more than a decade before Rousseau returned to depicting his vision of jungles.
Henri Rousseau was born in Laval, France in 1844 into the family of a plumber. He attended Laval High School as a day student and then as a boarder, after his father became a debtor and his parents had to leave the town upon the seizure of their house. He was mediocre in some subjects at the high school but won prizes for drawing and music.[7] He worked for a lawyer and studied law, but "attempted a small perjury and sought refuge in the army,"[8] serving for four years, starting in 1863. Rousseau moved to Paris in 1868 to support his widowed mother as a government employee. In 1868, he married Clémence Boitard, his landlord's 15 year-old daughter, with whom he had six children (only one survived). In 1871, he was appointed as a collector of the octroi of Paris, collecting taxes on goods entering Paris. He started painting seriously in his early forties, and by age 49 he retired from his job to work on his art full-time. Rousseau claimed he had "no teacher other than nature",[3] although he admitted he had received "some advice" from two established Academic painters, Félix Auguste Clément and Jean-Léon Gérôme.[10] Essentially he was self-taught and is considered to be a naïve or primitive painter. His best known paintings depict jungle scenes, even though he never left France or saw a jungle. Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!) was exhibited in 1891, and Rousseau received his first serious review, when the young artist Félix Vallotton wrote: "His tiger surprising its prey ought not to be missed; it's the alpha and omega of painting." Yet it was more than a decade before Rousseau returned to depicting his vision of jungles.