Circle of Hawkins Louis Welden - Maisons et nuages

Louis Hawkins, born on July 1, 1849, in Esslingen, Württemberg (Austro-Hungarian Empire).
Around 1872, he settled in Paris and entered the Académie Julian in 1873, where he was trained by William Bouguereau, Jules Lefebvre, and Gustave Boulanger.
In 1876, he joined the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. He then developed a classical technique based on precise drawing, accomplished modeling, and a highly polished finish. This technical foundation would persist throughout his career, even when he turned to more modern styles.
Naturalist period: Barbizon and rural scenes (1881–1887)
From 1881, Louis Welden Hawkins regularly exhibited at the Salon of the Société des artistes français. That year, he presented Les Orphelins, a canvas inspired by Millet’s world, depicting two children in a cemetery. It received a third-class medal—his only official award, as French juries remained very reluctant to recognize foreign artists.
It was in GREZ-sur-LOING, a municipality in Seine-et-Marne, that he painted this first success, spending time with the colony of American, Irish, and British artists.
He also painted in BARBIZON from 1884 to 1887, staying with the d’ALHEIM family. Pierre was a man of letters, and his wife, Marie Olénine, was a singer, lecturer, and promoter of Russian music in France. He painted rural scenes, often quiet ones, in which peasants are shown in contemplation or prayer. His painting remained highly finished, with controlled drawing and a lightened palette.
In 1885, the Canadian collector John Owens bought ten paintings from him, forming the largest collection of Hawkins’s works in a public institution (Owens Art Gallery in New Brunswick, Canada).
At the same time, he was already painting in Brittany, foreshadowing his later practice of painting seascapes. This period is marked by a naturalism tinged with religiosity and family symbolism.
Years of transition (1888–1892)
This period was marked by hesitation and stylistic diversification. Hawkins experimented with Impressionist techniques: broad brushstrokes and exploration of light. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants.
In 1887, he wrote to Pierre Puvis de Chavannes asking to join his studio, without success.
Also in 1887, he met Raffaela Zeppa, then aged 16, who became his wife in 1896. Their daughter, Jacqueline, was born in 1892.
Raffaella first appears as a young model in the artist’s paintings around 1887, and in 1907 their daughter Jacqueline appears in his more Symbolist works.
He continued painting landscapes, particularly in Brittany, as well as more modern genre scenes. This period paved the way for his Symbolist turn through the gradual abandonment of realism.
Symbolism, literature, and politics (1893–1898)
In 1893, Louis Welden Hawkins presented Voluptas Virtus at the Salon des Indépendants. He developed a conceptual form of painting influenced by Symbolist literature.
He maintained close relations with writers involved in this movement: Jean Lorrain, Paul Adam, Laurent Tailhade, Robert de Montesquiou, Auguste Villiers de l’Isle Adam, and Stéphane Mallarmé, who welcomed him every Tuesday at his home on rue de Rome, alongside men of letters, artists, and musicians.
In 1896, he gave the latter a canvas entitled Une porte, exhibited at the Société nationale with the dedication “to Stéphane Mallarmé, guardian of mystery.”
He also formed connections with figures from the trade union, political, anarchist, and socialist worlds, such as the radical socialist deputy Camille Pelletan and the libertarian, feminist journalist Séverine, whose portrait he painted in 1895. He took part in the Salons de la Rose+Croix (in 1894 and 1895), the Libre Esthétique in Brussels (in 1896 and 1898), and the Salon des Indépendants, and permanently left the Salon des artistes français in 1891.
Final years (1899–1910)
From 1899 until his death, Louis Welden Hawkins exhibited exclusively at the Salon of the Société nationale.
He faced serious financial difficulties and repeatedly applied for state assistance, which was refused.
He then worked on paintings that differed greatly in subject and execution, drawing on his past experience, with a lighter palette and a free, flowing style. The result was a synthesis of the peasant women of Barbizon, Impressionist landscapes, and Symbolist themes.
In January 1899, he published a book for young readers, La Reine du jardin, which he illustrated.
In the 1900s, he also exhibited in LONDON and contributed to The Artist and Journal of Home Culture.
He worked with his brother-in-law, François Zeppa, for the magazine L’Œuvre d’Art International, in which he published portraits of writers, actors, actresses, and musicians from 1901 to 1905.
He also devoted himself to decorative arts (masks, fans, etc.) in an Art Nouveau spirit.
He died of a heart attack at his home, 4 rue Aumont Thierville, in Paris on May 24, 1910, and was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Ouen.
A posthumous exhibition was held at the Société nationale in 1911.
I have been in possession of this painting since the death of the artist’s granddaughter, of whom I am the heir with no descendants, and I own a small collection and the painter’s archives.
Together with an art historian (Cécile Convert), we have a book and exhibition project in France or Italy. There is a website developed by Ms. Cécile Convert on WordPress: Louis Welden Hawkins
The work is in very good condition, frame included,
Work signed at the bottom right: lw hawkins
Dimensions: 0.304 x 0.383
Louis Welden Hawkins was the subject of an exhibition in 1993 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
This work was not included