Romantics Exhibition

4 March to December 2008

The Romantic movement which flourished in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, has great relevance today. Not only did painters such as Turner, poets like William Blake and Lord Byron and novelists as enduring as Jane Austen help to create the modern world, their legacies influence how we now perceive the arts and the environment.

The Channel Islands rugged coastlines, extreme weather, atmospheric light and lush interiors were perfect ingredients for the early 19th century Romantics. This exhibition in association Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery, will bring together for the first time the work of many of the artists such as John Le Capelain in Jersey, Peter Le Lievre in Guernsey and Sarah Louise Kilpack who were inspired by local scenes.

Dramatic, heroic, unconventional and mysterious, the Romantics in the Channel Islands exhibition captures the emotion of the Romantic period.  Bringing together the finest art of the Romantic movement in the Channel Islands, the exhibition includes work from Jerseyman John Le Capelain, Guernsey painter Peter Le Lievre and those who came to Jersey for inspiration such as Sarah Louisa Kilpack from London.

The exhibition pays homage to the most influential advocate of the French Romantic movement, Victor Hugo. The Islands inspired his creativity as a writer and as an experimenter in photographic Romanticism.

The continuing influence of Romanticism is shown in the works of twentieth and twenty-first century Jersey artists Frederick Sands, Bob Tilling and Nicholas Romeril, who has created a new work for the exhibition.

Visit the Exhibition at Jersey Museum, The Weighbridge, St Helier
Tel: +44 (0) 1534 633300
www.jerseyheritage.org

Artists

John Le Capelain (1812 - 1848) Often compared to J M W Turner, and sometimes referred to as 'the Jersey Turner', Le Capelain did not make a direct copy of the landscape, but rather tried to convery how the landscape made him feel. Born in St Helier, and with no formal art training, John painted a watercolour at the age of 17 which was then transformed into a lithograph and printed in Moss's Views of the Channel Islands. Le Capelain exhibited twice in London alongside such artists as Turner, Callow and Constable.
Peter Le Lievre (1812 - 1878) Le Lievre's intensely detailed watercolour studies of the coast, lanes and people of Guernsey demonstrate his great love and earnest study of the natural environment of his native island. Le Lievre painted predominantly in watercolour and also excelled at portraits of his fellow islanders, tending to paint working people such as fishermen, often with their crab pots or nets. Not known as an artist, Le Lievre had a prominent public profile as a Constable, Churchwarden and elected member of the St Peter Port Douzaine (or Town Council), an office he was to retain for 30 years.
Sarah Louisa Kilpack (1839 - 1909) Sarah Louisa Kipack first came to Jersey around 1863 and explored the islands on her many and long trips seemingly having an affinity with the Channel Islands. She conveyed in her small oil paintings the turbulence of the sea, the weightiness of precipitous rocks, the threatening nature of dark clouds and the insignificance of small human figures surrounded by uncontrollable forces. Kilpacks first works to be exhibited were two Guernsey paintings at the eleventh Annual Exhibition of the Society of Female Artists in London, with whom she was to exhibit regularly.
Nicholas Romeril (born 1967) Living and working in Jersey, Nicholas creates detailed, intense paintings of the coast of his native island. As a young painter Nicholas had to leave Jersey to study, he hooked up with Damien Hirst and other young tearaways of the London arts scene.
Paul Jacob Naftel (1817 - 1891) Guernsey's only locally born professional artist of the period. His watercolour paintings attracted attention during his lifetime and continue to be popular evocations of local landscapes and people.	William Toplis (1857 - 1941) Watercolour painter
John Wright Oakes (1820 - 1887) Oakes painted landscapes in the Pre-Raphaelite style, concentrating on relaism and naturalism.	Samuel Austin (1796 - 1834) Watercolour painter
Dr Thomas Lukis Mansell (1809 - 1879) Guernsey photographer

Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)

Perhaps France's most influential advocate of the french Romantic movement. Hugo lived in the Channel Islands from 1852 until 1870, originally as an exile, and later through choice. He completed some of his most popular literature whilst residing here, including Les Misérables and Les Travailleurs de la Mer, the latter bing inspired by the landscape and folklore of Guernsey and Sark.

His major poetical works Les Châtiments and Les Contemplations were mostly written in Jersey, his three years on the Island proving amongst some of the most inspired of his career. Victor Hugo was chiefly a writer, but also experimented with photography and drawing during his stays on the Channel Islands.

Hugo was made a peer of France in 1845 and wrote little between 1845 and 1850 when as a leader of the Liberal Democrats party and its most outspoken speaker he opposed Louis Napoleon, President of the National Assembly. Hugo declared Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III) a traitor to France and fled the country to avoid arrest, initially to Brussels and then to Jersey, where several other exiles of 'Proscrits' as they were known, had found safe haven.

He settled with his family at Marine Terrace in Grève d’Azette, St Clement. From there he had a magnificent view of the sea and rocky outcrop at the Dicq. The natural element of the sea, the rocks and the weather inspired him as a poet and novelist, but also prompted him, his oldest son Charles Hugo and family-friend Auguste Vacquerie to make a photographically illustrated book of the Channel Islands entitled Jersey and the Channel Islands. These photographs were made by the Hugo circle as part of a creative experiment in photography and some of the pictures of Jersey have been described as 'masterpieces of photographic Romanticism'. They are also significant in being amongst the earliest surviving photographs of Jersey.

Victor Hugo was expelled from Jersey in November 1855 along with several other Proscrits. The Proscrits' newspaper in Jersey, L'Homme had published the contents of an article published by French exiles in a London newspaper which criticised Queen Victoria's relationship with Napoleon III. He found safe haven in Guernsey, where he remained for the next 15 years, producing some of his best known works.

(All text and images kindly supplied by Jersey Heritage)

 

Cathy Arnold - Travel Writer

Travel writer Cathy Arnold visited the Jersey Museum just before the exhibition opened. Find out what she had to say about her experience with the Romantics >>>>