Marcel Rieder's career as an artist started in the late nineteenth century but extended well into the twentieth, as he died during World War II. He'd have been among the first generation of painters to see the lightbulb come into common use. His usage of electric lighting was canny, as in "Kitchen Interior" above. These are shaded lights, bringing out color, leaving a healthy amount of ambient shadow. Not overpowering. To that he adds a lyric sense of what the domestic world is like in the evening and at night.
2 comments:
He painted very charming pictures. What I've noticed in this painting and others on wikipedia is his great talent in combining warm light and blue or neutral backgrounds. Apparently, he used the same method in painting rooms and terraces lit by oil lamp. There is something very comfortable and welcoming in his images. I'm also a fan of shaded lights and ambient shadows in my own environment.
One nice detail I hadn't mentioned before is the wine bottle that's sort of doubled because its shadow is, of course, the same shade of green. A homely detail, but an enchanting one. Yeah, he could paint outdoor scenes as well, but the indoor paintings are where his strength really lies, I feel. The genie that gains power from being pent up in the bottle, as it were. And yes, shaded light has a very pleasing effect.
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