Dominique Lang
Encyclopedia
Dominique Lang is considered to be Luxembourg
's most important Impressionist
painter. He painted both portraits and landscapes although he was employed as a high-school teacher.
followed by paintings for the stations of the cross in the new church at Dudelange
. Travelling on a State grant, he then spent four months studying art in Florence
and Rome
. Back in Dudelange, he faced not just financial problems but negative criticism of his paintings from the Cercle artistique de Luxembourg
. He began to suffer from dreadful headaches, leading him into depression. His art was influenced by his reading Ruskin
, Schopenhauer
and Spengler
, leading him into a Symbolist
period where his work resembled that of the English Pre-Raphaelites
who reacted against mechanisation by evoking the legends of the Middle Ages. His paintings "La jeune fille et la mort" and "La mort entrant dans la maison" are from this period. During this period, he left the family home and set up a studio in a poorer area of Dudelange.
After a few months in Paris (1905), Lang was admitted to the Munich Academy
in March 1906 where he studied contemporary art and Impressionism (from 1907) which had a drastic effect on his painting style. When he returned to Dudelange, he opened a photographic studio which finally provided him with a reasonable income. In 1911, he married Anne-Marie Ney in 1911, who would appear in many of his paintings, and the same year he started to work as an art teacher. He first taught at the Lycée desr Filles in Luxembourg City and then at the Ecole industrielle et commerciale in Esch-sur-Alzette
. Unable to make a living from his paintings, for which he received little recognition during his lifetime, Lang had to remain a teacher for the rest of his working life.
His paintings were increasingly Impressionist, full of ever brighter light and often depicting a young women clothed in white. Using short brush strokes, he would make abundant use of blues and greens. Then, in 1912–13, he began to adopt the pure colouring favoured by Monet
, Renoir
and Pisarro
. Around this time, he began to venture out along the banks of the River Alzette
painting scenes of orchards, flower picking and fruit harvesting or of the peasant's houses in the area where he lived. His painting of
Dudelange en 1917 is an excellent illustration of his characteristic aversion to industrialization. There is no sight of factories or workmen's housing in the idyllic countryside surrounding the town.
The final period in the life of this celebrated portrait and landscape painter was once again one of increasing pessimism and distress as Lang suffered from dreadful migraines and almost total blindness. At the age of 45, he died in Schifflange
on 22 June 1919 but was buried in his native Dudelange.
.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
's most important Impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
painter. He painted both portraits and landscapes although he was employed as a high-school teacher.
Career
After completing his studies in 1901, he embarked on a Pre-Raphaelite phase when he painted the Baptism of Christ, a fresco in the church at JunglinsterJunglinster
Junglinster is a commune and town in central Luxembourg in the district Grevenmacher with 5,813 inhabitants. Junglinster is known as the site of a transmitter., the town of Junglinster, which lies in the south of the commune, has a population of 2,224...
followed by paintings for the stations of the cross in the new church at Dudelange
Dudelange
Dudelange is a commune with city status in southern Luxembourg. It is the fourth-most populous commune, with over 18,300 inhabitants. Dudelange is situated close to the border to France....
. Travelling on a State grant, he then spent four months studying art in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Back in Dudelange, he faced not just financial problems but negative criticism of his paintings from the Cercle artistique de Luxembourg
Cercle artistique de Luxembourg
The Cercle artistique de Luxembourg or CAL, founded in 1893 as Cercle artistique luxembourgeois, is an association which brings together artists of all types with a view to supporting artistic work and art education in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg....
. He began to suffer from dreadful headaches, leading him into depression. His art was influenced by his reading Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...
and Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler was a German historian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West , published in 1918, which puts forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations...
, leading him into a Symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
period where his work resembled that of the English Pre-Raphaelites
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
who reacted against mechanisation by evoking the legends of the Middle Ages. His paintings "La jeune fille et la mort" and "La mort entrant dans la maison" are from this period. During this period, he left the family home and set up a studio in a poorer area of Dudelange.
After a few months in Paris (1905), Lang was admitted to the Munich Academy
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich was founded 1808 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Munich as the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" and is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany...
in March 1906 where he studied contemporary art and Impressionism (from 1907) which had a drastic effect on his painting style. When he returned to Dudelange, he opened a photographic studio which finally provided him with a reasonable income. In 1911, he married Anne-Marie Ney in 1911, who would appear in many of his paintings, and the same year he started to work as an art teacher. He first taught at the Lycée desr Filles in Luxembourg City and then at the Ecole industrielle et commerciale in Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette is a commune with city status, in south-western Luxembourg. It is the country's second city, and its second-most populous commune, with a population of 29,853 people...
. Unable to make a living from his paintings, for which he received little recognition during his lifetime, Lang had to remain a teacher for the rest of his working life.
His paintings were increasingly Impressionist, full of ever brighter light and often depicting a young women clothed in white. Using short brush strokes, he would make abundant use of blues and greens. Then, in 1912–13, he began to adopt the pure colouring favoured by Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to...
and Pisarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
. Around this time, he began to venture out along the banks of the River Alzette
Alzette
The Alzette is a river with a length of 73 kilometers in France and Luxembourg. It is a right tributary of the Sauer.It rises in Thil near the town Villerupt in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département, France. It crosses the border with Luxembourg after a few kilometres. In Lameschmillen it is joined...
painting scenes of orchards, flower picking and fruit harvesting or of the peasant's houses in the area where he lived. His painting of
Dudelange en 1917 is an excellent illustration of his characteristic aversion to industrialization. There is no sight of factories or workmen's housing in the idyllic countryside surrounding the town.
The final period in the life of this celebrated portrait and landscape painter was once again one of increasing pessimism and distress as Lang suffered from dreadful migraines and almost total blindness. At the age of 45, he died in Schifflange
Schifflange
Schifflange is a commune and town in south-western Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette, which is part of the district of Luxembourg., the town of Schifflange, which lies in the west of the commune, has a population of 7,849....
on 22 June 1919 but was buried in his native Dudelange.
Affiliations and awards
Lang was a member of the Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg where he exhibited his paintings. In 1919, he was awarded the Grand-Duc Adolphe PrizePrix Grand-Duc Adolphe
The Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe is a Luxembourgian art award awarded every year to one or more artists exhibiting at the Salon Artistique of the Cercle artistique de Luxembourg ....
.
External links
- Biography of Dominique Lang with illustrations, Centre de Documentation sur les Migrations Humaines, Dudelange