1878, Gustave Caillebotte, A Man Docking His Skiff (detail) -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: After serving in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), Caillebotte gave up his career as a lawyer and devoted himself to painting. He attended the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and became captivated by the group's unconventional creative methods. Caillebotte continued painting in a realistic style that flaunted his accomplished skill with a variety of techniques, but his early depictions of urban working-class subjects proved too controversial for the art establishment. Following the rejection of his paintings by the Salon, he exhibited regularly with the Impressionist group between 1876 and 1881.
A Man Docking His Skiff is one of several leisurely scenes that Caillebotte made along the River Yerres, where his family owned a country estate. The tilted ground of this scene's bold perspective is characteristic of many of the painter's compositions. He employs the low point of view to great effect here, closely framing the water within a diagonal perspective that produces the canvas's strikingly dynamic character. Caillebotte depicts the lone figure on the dock as he reaches forward over the river; the effortlessness of his gesture, drawing his skiff closer with his paddle, becomes the focal point of the composition.
Link to the full painting.
1878, Gustave Caillebotte, A Man Docking His Skiff (detail) -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: After serving in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), Caillebotte gave up his career as a lawyer and devoted himself to painting. He attended the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and became captivated by the group's unconventional creative methods. Caillebotte continued painting in a realistic style that flaunted his accomplished skill with a variety of techniques, but his early depictions of urban working-class subjects proved too controversial for the art establishment. Following the rejection of his paintings by the Salon, he exhibited regularly with the Impressionist group between 1876 and 1881.
A Man Docking His Skiff is one of several leisurely scenes that Caillebotte made along the River Yerres, where his family owned a country estate. The tilted ground of this scene's bold perspective is characteristic of many of the painter's compositions. He employs the low point of view to great effect here, closely framing the water within a diagonal perspective that produces the canvas's strikingly dynamic character. Caillebotte depicts the lone figure on the dock as he reaches forward over the river; the effortlessness of his gesture, drawing his skiff closer with his paddle, becomes the focal point of the composition.
Link to the full painting.