Would like to learn something about this painting

August 9, 2009 8:19 AM

Can you help me identify at least the painter of this impressionist painting?

(sorry for blurry iPhone photos -- our camera chose this moment to give up the ghost.)

I recently was given this painting ... Am wondering if there is any info to be had about the painter or about when it might have been made? Here's a larger/blurrier shot of the painter's signature. On the back of the painting is a stamp, sort of oval shaped but pointy at the two ends, possibly with writing in it, though nothing is legible whatsoever. Also on the back of the canvas, someone has written "BOOK STALLS along the Banks of the Seine with Notre Dame" in pencil.

posted by FortyT-wo to media & arts (5 comments total)

It's not an Impressionist painting. It looks like a modern (post 1950's? at least) impressionist style painting, the kind of which are usually sold to tourists in Paris. Some of the artists that emerged doing this kind of speedy, palette knife impressionism gained a following and are collectable, but most are just junk that are flogged to tourists. It's difficult to tell which yours is without being able to read the name. The frame looks like it may be quality, which is a good sign. Do you have a photo of the back? The quality of the canvas, stretcher and framing arrangements are often a clue to the quality of the artist and the age of the work. Most of these paintings are put together with very low grade materials.
posted by fire&wings at 8:46 AM on August 9

oops, sorry -- didn't know you had to be logged into flickr to see the larger size versions:

painting
signature

Some pics of the back
back
stamp
corner (kinda looks like hastily cut canvas)
writing


fire&wings, I'd bet you might be correct -- The painting looks very very much like watercolors my grandparents brought back from France in the mid-1950s. (one of the reasons while I like this painting so much). Even the writing on the back is the same blocky printing that my grandma or grandpa might have used. This painting isn't from them, though... It was given to me by someone who collects art & antiques, and while I'm *thrilled* with the painting, I'm also pretty sure it was probably not one of her most valuable pieces, or she would have sold it.

When I was looking at the back I did notice that the canvas was ruffling a little around the edges of the stretcher, and it also kind of looks like the painting does not extend beyond the inside edges of the frame, so might be exactly the kind of lower grade stuff you describe.

I still love it to pieces. :)
posted by FortyT-wo at 9:14 AM on August 9

Also, while pics of the stamp and signature are blurry, there's just nothing that can be made out on them with the naked eye either..
posted by FortyT-wo at 9:24 AM on August 9

I have a bit of a soft spot for these type of pictures too...they're not all bad!

Yeah it looks rather cheaply put together - the fact that the canvas is attached to the sides of the stretcher and crudely cut rather than extending around the back, and the wood gives it away as modern. The quality of the stretcher and canvas is not always a reliable indicator, but this does point to something that has been churned out. I guess you won't know for sure until someone deciphers the signature.

I doubt it's original to the painting (looks older) but that frame looks really nice. Is it heavy? May end up being more valuable than the painting :)
posted by fire&wings at 9:31 AM on August 9

Yep, the frame is pretty hefty, but it also has some sort of caulking in each corner on the back. No clue whether she got the painting and frame together or if the frame was some sort of leftover from another piece of art (or possibly in pieces that someone put together?). She travels, so could have gotten the whole assembly in France, not sure. When I asked her about the painter, etc. she couldn't remember where / when she'd gotten it.
posted by FortyT-wo at 10:21 AM on August 9