One of Vincent Van Gogh’s teachers was Fernand Cormon, an academic painter of minor talent who
had built a reputation on large pictures of prehistoric lake dwellers and cavemen. Thin as a sparrow, with a sparrows face, Fernand Cormon was held in awe by his pupils, perhaps not so much for his paintings as for the fact that he kept three mistress at one time.
The World of Van Gogh, Time Life Library p. 50
Although Time Life is very derogatory towards Fernand Cormon’s artistic work, I am going to disagree with their view. I am amazed at the work that he has done. And I’m also going to assume that if his students were in awe of him, there must have been a good reason, artistically.
There is this wild picture taken at his atelier which looks like a wild frat party. You can be the judge of what it means.
Fernand (1845-1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became one of the leading historical painters of modern France. Being well-accepted at the annual Salon, he also ran an art school, the Atelier Cormon in the 1880’s where he tried to guide his students to create paintings which would be accepted by the Salon’s jury. In Vincent’s case he was unsuccessful.
Despite his moment of glory as a Beaux-Arts professor Fernand Cormon was almost forgotten by 1924 when he was run over by a taxi outside his studio, and is barely remembered today.
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