A romantic Victorian, Artist Arthur Hacker

Artist  Arthur Hacker

I thought  this would be a wonderful opportunity to study the rhythm in Arthur Hacker's wonderful figure paintings and how he constructed his compositions. Hacker was born at the start of a very transitional period of art. So he's one of many who became hybrid painters.....painting light and shadow during that period.

BRITISH MASTER - ARTHUR HACKER 1858 - 1919

BIOGRAPHY

Arthur Hacker was born in London, the son of Edward Hacker, the line engraver. He went to the RA Schools before studying in Paris under Leon Bonnat, who was internationally famous as a portrait painter and a lifelong friend of Degas. Bonnat was the ideal teacher for Hacker who became a fashionable portrait painter himself.

His early work consisted of genre and historical scenes, such as The Waters of Babylon and The Annunciation which was brought by the Chantrey Bequest in 1892. As an indirect result of the success of this painting. he was elected an associate of the RA and soon after began teaching at the Academy.  He partially abandoned subject painting in favour of portraiture, in which he achieved considerable success. He was elected an Academician in 1910 and began to paint a series of London street scenes, including A Wet Night in Piccadilly Circus..... which met with mixed reception from the critics who were not prepared for a painting of this nature. It was far more modern in its treatment than anything else Hacker had produced.

In his later years he returned to painting mythological and allegorical subjects. He died on Wednesday, 12 November 1919 in London, where he had resided all his life, and was buried at Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey.

(Source: Adrian Vincent, A Companion to Victorian and Edwardian Artists)

Arthur Hacker 

I'm a great fan of painted signatures in art. After all. we use a brush full of paint which often causes it to become stylized.....perhaps even into a brand logo. Our signature is our own personal stamp. A visual identification that separates us out from all the rest in the sandbox. So it takes some time to develop with a sure hand and be aesthetically compatible with the rest of the painting. Like our art, it evolves to maturity. As a collector, I give it great consideration when purchasing any painting. Galleries do too!
 

This is one of my favorite of Hackers

How cool is the weightless drapery effect

Hacker, if you look closely, is actually a very good example of different textures from thin wet-in-wet to heavy globs of paint.... sometimes built up dry brushed layers. Often quite abstract marks closeup, which at a distance gives a very compelling sense of  realism and refined detail..... He definitely established a very romantic rhythm in his work shown here by punctuating light and shadow with colour.....Something to be admired beyond his subject.