Henri Edmond Cross

Henri Edmond Cross (Henri Edmond Delacroix) was a French painter and graphic artist, a brilliant representative of Neo-impressionism, a talented watercolorist and marine painter.

The artist’s childhood passed in the city of Lille. The talent of Henri Delacroix manifested itself very early; so, his relatives sent him to learn painting from famous artist Carolus-Durand.

Together with J. Seurat and P. Signac, Henri Cross founded the Independent Society in Paris – an association of artists whose works were not accepted by the jury of the official Art Salon and who exhibited their paintings separately. Later the painter was elected as a Vice President. The work of Cross, at first realistic, is transformed into a brighter, more colorful and full of light under the influence of Impressionism. Following the method of like-minded people Seurat and Signac, he completed it with individual features and his own subjects.

Key ideas:

– The artist worked mainly in the style of pointillism, putting paint on the canvas with vivid strokes of pure color. On closer examination, the work of Henri Cross resembles a mosaic of scattered color dots that miraculously combine into a single whole, when you watch the canvas from a distance. This is due to the ability of the human eye to perceive the separate points of contrasting colors as one, and this was used by Neo-impressionists in order to reliably convey the elusive air space.

– Despite the chosen style, which involves the orderly application of strokes to the canvas, the paintings of Henri Cross are very colorful and expressive; they are full of vital energy and emotions. In each work, there are vivid individual traits of the author, who subtly feels the slightest nuances of color.

– Neo-impressionism allowed the artist to increase the decorativeness of his paintings, create vivid, contrasting color landscapes and achieve incredible atmosphericity and airiness in painting. He was able to recreate the feeling of changeable light and vibrating air, which the impressionists had always strived for.

– It should be said that not all the works of Henri Cross are made in the technique of pointillism. He often painted seascapes, and especially portraits, using broad smooth strokes and soft halftones. The artist is also known as a talented aquarellist. At his solo exhibitions in 1905 and 1907, strikingly fresh watercolors painted in a free manner were presented.