Eugène Anatole Carrière was a French Symbolist artist of the Fin de Siècle period. His paintings are best known for their brown monochrome palette. He was a close friend of the sculptor Rodin and his work influenced Picasso. Some see traces of Carrière's monochrome style in Picasso's blue period. He was born at Gournay-sur-Marne. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and later under Cabanel. During the Franco-Prussian War he passed some time as a prisoner in Dresden, where the art of Rubens made a lasting impression on him, as may be seen in the glowing colors of his early paintings. About 1890 he adopted the gray, misty-color scheme with contrasts of light and shadow, so characteristic of his art, but which no other artist has been able to imitate without affectation.Carrière was one of the leaders in the secessionist movement, which led to the founding of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. At the Société, Carrière exhibited, among other works, Sleep (1890), the celebrated portrait of Paul Verlaine (1891, Luxembourg), Maternity (1892, Luxembourg), Christ on the Cross (1897), and Madame Menard-Dorian (1906). Carrière played an influential role as an art teacher at Academie de la Palette. He also modeled a monument to Verlaine in the style of Rodin, and wrote gracefully and interestingly on art subjects. Several of his works may be found at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and in National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade.
Bernheim Jeune et Fils, Paris Saidenberg Gallery, New York
To be included in the Catalogue raisonné des peintures d'Eugène Carrière, Rodolphe Rapetti, Veronique Milin-Dumesnil, Alice Bourgoin-Lamarre, Gallimard, Paris.