Casimir Reymond undated.
Oil on canvas | 72 x 53 cm
Begnins Period
Characters
Inventory CR-45 | Fondation Casimir Reymond
Photo: François De Grandi
Artistic features
Subject:
The gesture of working the land is represented here by a gardener busy pruning shrubs. Posture and colours make him blend into the garden of which he is an integral part.
Composition:
The figure of the gardener is certainly located right in the centre, but it is next to that of the trunk of the tree he is pruning: this double foreground, as well as the geometric design of the gardener's clothes, reminiscent of the geometry of the garden's elements, reinforces this character's belonging to his environment.
Medium:
Attempts to get rid of an applied and wise touch: Casimir introduces here a more systematic application of colours, simplifying the subject beyond its strict representation, subordinating it to a certain geometric order whose rhythm becomes the protagonist of the work.
Pallet:
Choice of earthy colours, whose narrow range amplifies the symbiosis between the gardener and his garden.
Background
Period:
Although this work is not dated, it can be assumed to have been made after the great exhibition of the Grenette, because of the similarity of its subject matter to the works painted at Begnins, in which Casimir describes gardens and gardeners. These works are less virulent and more serene than those of La Grenette: Casimir, reassured by the success of this exhibition, is more relaxed and his painting more lyrical.
Related artists:
Paul Cézanne's major influence on the pictorial work of Casimir Reymond is visible here through his attempt to structurally geometrise the brushstroke.
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