Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819-1891 was a painter, etcher and printmaker who continued the tradition of Dutch landscapists. He was an influential pioneer and proponent of Impressionism. Johan Barthold Jongkind was born in 1819 in Lathrop, Netherlands. He spent his childhood in Vlaardingen. Although he was destined to follow the legal profession, his love for drawing led him to choose art as his career.

Pursuit of Painting Career

Jongkind travelled to the Hague in 1837 in pursuit of his art career. In the Hague, he first trained with Andreas Schelfhout, whose specialities included seascapes and meticulous winter scenes. Between 1838 and 1842, Jongkind studied painting at Massluis and The Hague. In 1843, his watercolour painting, along with his talent for Realism, gained him a bursary which supported him for the next ten years.

Study in Paris

The composition of his paintings and the choice of subjects in his early works exemplify his attachment to the 17th-century Dutch landscape painters. Jongkind went to Paris in 1844 to continue his artistic education. Thomas Couture, Theodore Rousseau and Eugene Boudin were his fellow students. Eugene Isabey was his teacher. Jongkind’s fondness for rivers and riverbanks as subjects for his paintings grew and he drew paintings on these kinds of subjects repeatedly. He developed a new approach to landscape painting which influenced many later impressionist artists.

Medals and Appreciation

Jongkind met Eugene Isabey in The Hague in 1845 and spent some time in the latter’s studio in Paris the following year. After initial studies under the local landscape painters at the Hague, he moved to Paris in1846 and worked under Eugene Isabey and Francois Picot. The exhibition of his paintings at the Salon in 1848 and in 1852 earned him medals and appreciation by the likes of Camille Corot and Charles-Francois is Daubigny. Famous art writers, Charles Baudelaire and Emile Zola praised him for his artistic excellence. In effect, experts think that his paintings were a sort of bridge between the Barbizon Schol of Landscape paintings and the coming Impressionism.

Until 1855, Jongkind drew most of his inspiration from Paris and from the Normandy ports such as Honfleur, Fecamp, Le Havre and Etretat. His watercolours and paintings reveal his accomplishments in the Dutch landscape tradition. Le Point Marie (1851) and Etretat (1851) are examples of his excellence. Following his lack of success at the Paris Exposition of 1855, he decided to return to Holland and lived in several places such as Rotterdam, Klaawall and Overschie until 1860. As he felt that he was missing Paris, Jondkind returned to Paris.

Bohemian Lifestyle and Alcoholism

Jongkind’s artistic ability was matched only by his addiction to alcoholism. His time in Paris was characterised by an extremely bohemian lifestyle, severe poverty and alcoholism. Throughout his Life, Jongkind struggled with mental illness and alcoholism. His addiction led to his incarceration in an asylum. He often sought and got financial assistance from his friends and art dealers. His painter friends Camille Corot, Theodore Rousseau and Eugene Boudin helped him to overcome his misery on a number of occasions. He died in 1891 in La Cote-Saint-Andre, France. Today, Jongkind’s works are displayed in collections of famous museums in Paris, New York, London and Amsterdam, among others.

His Style Admired by the Greats

Jongkind chose scenes along the banks of the Seine River, picturesque old quarters of Paris, the seacoast of Normandy and the Dutch canals as subjects for his paintings. Jongkind was one of the forerunners of the impressionist movement. He was often dubbed as ‘The father of Impressionist Movement. He developed an idiosyncratic style that earned ‘s him the admiration of Edouard Manet, Claude Money, Camille Pissarro and Eugene Boudin. Jongkind’s pein-air painting techniques predated those of Monet, Sisley and Pissarro by about 20 years. The famous 19th-century art writer, Edmond de Goncourt declared in 1882 that all modern landscape paintings of any worth descended from him.

His Innovative Techniques

Jongkind used ‘broken brushstrokes’ to create ‘shimmering light’ in his works. His painting ‘Land Seine et Notre-Dame de Paris’ is one such example. This technique was lauded by Edouard Manet who pronounced him ‘The father of modern landscape’. Manet acknowledged that Jongkind, together with the Normandy outdoor painter Eugene Boudin were the two most important formative influences on his art. In 1862, Jongkind exhibited at the Salon des Refuses, where his paintings were lauded by Eugene Boudin and Claude Monet for the innovative technique. Monet later recounted that Jongkind acted as a mentor to him during the 1860s when they were living and working together in the town of Honfleur.

Jongkind’s Famous Paintings

Some of his famous paintings are, Le Jardin de Luxembourg Paris (1887), Street Scene in Paris in Winter, (1887), Le Quai des Celestins, Vue du Port de Dordrecht ( 1869), Chemin arbore et maison, (1885), Le Pont neuf, (1877), Moonlit Landscape, (1866), Paysage, (1888), A farmyard, (1880), Shipping at a quay in a Dutch harbour (1856), The Port of Honfleur (1864), Fishing Boat, (1878), The Church of Overschie, (1866), A Roadside Tavern, (1863), Entrance to the Port of Honfleur, (1863/64), etc.