Paul Peel (7 November 1860 – 3 October 1892) was a Canadian figure painter. Having won a medal at the 1890 Paris Salon, he became one of the first Canadian artists to receive international recognition in his lifetime.[1]
Paul Peel | |
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![]() Self-portrait from the National Gallery of Canada | |
Born | (1860-11-07)November 7, 1860 London, Ontario |
Died | October 3, 1892(1892-10-03) (aged 31) Paris, France |
Education | studied with William Lees Judson in London, Ontario; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins; École des Beaux-Arts with Jean-Léon Gérôme; Académie Julian with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre |
Known for | Painter |
Spouse | Isaure Verdier (m. 1882) |
Peel was born in London, Ontario, and received his art training from his father from a young age.[2] Later he studied with William Lees Judson and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins (1877-1880).[2] He then moved to Paris in 1881, France where he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Decoratifs, later enrolling in the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts. He studied afterwards with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant in his private atelier and then with him at the Académie Julian as well as with Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre (1877-1890).[2] In 1883, he exhibited his first painting at the Paris Salon, where he would continue to exhibit regularly until 1892. His paintings have a conservative quality, but a few later works reveal that he was a convert to Impressionist colour and light.
In 1882, he married Isaure Verdier. They had two children: a son (Robert Andre, in 1886) and a daughter (Emilie Marguerite, in 1888).[2]
Peel travelled widely in Canada and in Europe, exhibiting as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.[3] He also exhibited at international shows like the Paris Salon, where he won a bronze medal in 1890 for his painting After the Bath.[2] He was known for his often sentimental nudes and for his pictures of children; he was among the first Canadian painters to explore the nude as a subject.[4]
He contracted a lung infection and died in his sleep, in Paris, France, at the age of 31.[2]
His childhood home is one of the many attractions at the Fanshawe Pioneer Village in London, Ontario.
Listed chronologically:
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