Barbara's Lake
Gianne de Genevraye, 2019, Oil on Linen, 42x36 in.
Water Landscape in Orange County project

Croton Petra Small Lake at Mile Square Park
Gianne de Genevraye, 2019, 40x30 in.
Water Landscape in Orange County project

Pacific Ocean at Salt Creek
Gianne de Genevraye, 2020, Oil on Linen, 38x42 in.
Water Landscape in Orange County project

Giant Cardon Pitahaya Vernal Pool in Fairview Park
Gianne de Genevraye, 2020, Oil on Linen, 32x44 in.
Water Landscape in Orange County project

Dear Friends,

Here in California, I am working on landscapes in a series called Water Landscape in Orange County. In these paintings, I have broadened my subject of nature. Rather than close-up painting, I am changing my perspective, moving farther away from my subject, now seeing things from a distance. This of course moves me to what is traditionally accepted as Landscape Painting.

I was able to attend a fascinating lecture series on Landscape at the Laguna Museum of Art by the art professional Dr. Julia Friedman. In five sessions, she covered the history of landscape: from classical, traditional through impressionism to contemporary. To see the evolutionary arc of this major section in fine art painting affirmed to all of us that landscape is still very viable and important.

We see landscape every day in our walk through life; urban, artificial, water, constructed and natural landscapes. Landscape is also present in traditional portraits and allegorical paintings. In the rare Getty exposition of Manet's last paintings, landscape hardly appears in his backgrounds. Interestingly enough at the end of his life, he went back to painting bouquets in vases. I saw these as broken landscapes: leaves and flowers removed from their habitat and brought into intimate interiors.

In the outstanding exhibition of the long eschewed 19th French salon painter William A. Bouguereau at the San Diego Museum in Balboa Park (until March 15), the presence of landscape was evident. With the exception of commissioned portraits, all of his allegorical pieces had constructed Arcadian landscapes, idyllic, to invite the viewer into the themes in a dream-like way. Although secondary to the subject matter, his landscapes set a backdrop of emotion for the viewer's experience. This exhibit was an exceptional gathering of Bouguereau paintings collected by Americans during the Gilded Age, many from very small museums.

Ms. Friedman recommended a book on contemporary landscape: Landscape Painting Now by Barry Schwabsky. This remarkable work has works selected "From Pop Abstraction to New Romanticism" and shows us that landscape which invites the viewer into a new experience of viewing the world is still very much alive today.

Until next time and bon fin d'hiver,

P.S. I was fortunate to be in a group show at the Laguna Beach Community and Susi Q Center called "A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words." The show is up until March 12. My selection is from a residency in Cabo San Lucas.

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Cabo San Lucas Wirikuta Garden
Gianne de Genevraye, 2016, Oil on Linen, 36x42 in.

Dawn
William Bouguereau, 1881
Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art
Bequest of Nelle H. Stringfellow, 2005

Night
William Bouguereau, 1883 Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Archives Bequest of Marjorie Merrriweather Post, 1973

Vase of While Lilacs and Roses
Edouard Manet, 1883
Manet's penultimate painting two months before his death.

The Empire
E.M. Celaya
From Landscape Painting Now: From Pop Abstraction to New Romanticism by Barry Schwabsky