Laura Gascoigne

Henri Le Sidaner: the artist who fell between two schools

A Pas de Calais honours artist who refused to be labeled - and suffered the consequences

‘The Tea Table’, 1938, by Henri Le Sidaner

Like other species, artists club together in movements not just for purposes of identification but for longevity. Individuals who don’t belong to schools take longer establishing reputations during their lifetimes, and tend to lose them sooner after their deaths.

Henri Le Sidaner (1862–1939) was one such individual: a contemporary of the Post-Impressionists who painted in dots but was not a Pointillist; revelled in complementary colours but was not a Fauve; and drew a veil of dreams over reality but was not a Symbolist, or only briefly.

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