Where to See Alfred Stevens

Alfred Stevens's work can be viewed in several museums internationally. In the United Kingdom, these include the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery (Royal Pavilion Gardens, Brighton), the Geffrye Museum (Kingsland Road, London), the Manchester Art Gallery (Mosley Street, Manchester), the National Museums of Scotland, Royal Museum (Chambers Street, Edinburgh), and the Victoria & Albert Museum (Cromwell Road, London). In the United States, Stevens's art can be found at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Winter Park, Florida), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), and the Wolfsonian at Florida International University (Miami Beach). In continental Europe, you can see his work at the Brangwyn Museum (Brugge, Belgium), the Clockarium Museum in Brussels, the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie (Roubaix, France), the Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy (France), the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Nancy, France), the Museo Art Nouveau y Art Deco (Salamanca, Spain), the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon), and the Museu d’Art Modern (Barcelona, Spain).

Alfred Stevens did not focus on printmaking as a primary activity, but prints of his work were produced, contributing to his wider recognition. During the late 19th century, there was a surge in the popularity of fine art etchings, and this created a market for magazines and publications dedicated to the medium. The Printsellers’ Association catalogued different states and types of prints. These included Artist Proofs (without engraved titles, and often signed by both the artist and engraver), Lettered Proofs (with lightly engraved titles), Presentation Proofs (for the painter and engraver), Proofs before letters (no title, but with names), and Remarque Artist Proofs (with a device in the margin). Print edition sizes varied. Some works were issued in editions as small as 100 to 400, while others, particularly those using photo-engraving, had larger editions. The limitation of editions was a choice made by the artist, and printmakers mark each print with edition numbers, titles, and signatures, usually in pencil.

Alfred Stevens's paintings are important because of his influence on later artists, especially those working in a modern style. In 1883, an article in the Belgian periodical L’Art Moderne directly praised Frans Hals for the impact his paintings had on nineteenth-century artists. The author compared Hals favourably to Manet, noting Hals's aesthetic, colouring, drawing, and techniques aligned with their era. The article stated, "Frans Hals c’est un moderne. Son esthétique, son coloris, son dessin, ses procédés, appartiennent à notre époque." Comparisons to Hals continued into the next century and were not restricted to France. In 1884, Paul Mantz referred to Hals as an "ever-glorious ancestor" of modern artists. In 1909, cultural critic Kenyon Cox considered John Singer Sargent to be the modern counterpart to Hals. These comparisons to Hals reinforced the Dutch artist’s connections to modern art.

Alfred Stevens received academic training, which influenced his techniques and use of materials. Students typically began by drawing from sculptures, often plaster casts of antique works. This monochrome practice instilled a sense of form through tonal gradations. Only after mastering drawing were students permitted to use colour. The painting process began with a thinly painted underlayer, the *ebauche*, establishing lines and masses. This layer had to be "leaner" (containing less oil) than subsequent layers, adhering to the "fat over lean" rule to prevent cracking. Students prepared palettes using earth colours, Prussian blue, black, and lead white. They applied light charcoal lines to primed canvas, reworking contours with a red-brown mixture, the *sauce*. Later in the 19th century, some artists moved away from stable earth colours to less permanent tarry colours like bitumen. Students were taught to apply mosaic-like touches of colour, blending them until brushstrokes disappeared. Lights were often painted thickly, shadows thinly, to create a sense of depth.

Alfred Stevens did not run a formal school and seemingly took on no pupils, though he did employ assistants. Therefore, direct artistic influence is difficult to trace. However, some connections and observations can be made. Jules Adler, who debuted at the Salon in 1889, painted in a realistic style, often depicting urban working-class life. His work has been compared to Émile Zola's naturalist novels, because of its impartial approach to subject matter. Adler's paintings share thematic similarities with work by artists such as Bastien-Lepage, Roll, and Dagnan-Bouveret. Gustave Courbet's approach to painting, particularly his use of the palette knife and his physical engagement with the medium, resonated with later artists working in abstraction. Paul Cézanne directly referenced Courbet's Shaded Stream (1865) in his Bridge at Maincy (1879-80). The influence of Courbet can also be seen in contemporary photography, such as Jeff Wall's The Drain (1989), which has iconographic links to Courbet via Cézanne.

Alfred Stevens, like many artists of his era, gained knowledge through museum study, particularly at the Louvre. There, he could examine a wide selection of masters and learn skills. The eighteenth-century Venetian painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens, provided instruction in the use of colour. During this period, a shift occurred in how originality was viewed. The Academy favoured the later stages of painting as the point where the artist's genius was most evident. Independent artists, however, consciously adopted a concept of originality that valued the preparatory stages, when personal expression guided the artist's hand. Some atelier masters, such as Charles Gleyre and Thomas Couture, offered alternatives to the Academy's exclusive focus on the Rome Prize. Couture, who was not a member of the Academy, had unconventional attitudes to light, shade, and handling. He encouraged students to work rapidly and spontaneously, suppressing detail in favour of directness. Couture passed on his love of the Old Masters, and his influence can be seen in the work of his student Édouard Manet.

Alfred Stevens (1823-1906) was a Belgian painter known for his depictions of elegant women in contemporary settings. However, determining his single "most famous work" is challenging, as different sources and audiences may have varying opinions. Some might point to paintings such as *Parisian Sphinx* (1867) or *What is Called Japonisme* (1880), reflecting his interest in modern life and Japanese art respectively. These paintings capture the fashionable interiors and stylish women that defined much of his career. It is important to note that, unlike his compatriot James Ensor, Stevens's interest in oriental objects was more about literal transcription than evoking atmosphere. This distinction is important when analysing Stevens's artistic approach and how it differed from his contemporaries.

Alfred Stevens is associated with Realism, a movement that took hold in France around the middle of the 19th century. Realism emerged during a time of increasing emphasis on science and empiricism. Intellectuals and the public embraced the idea that knowledge should be based on observation and direct experience. Realist artists believed that only subjects from their own time were truly "real". They focused on everyday contemporary life, rejecting historical or fictional themes as being neither real nor visible. Gustave Courbet, a leading figure in Realism, stated that art should consist only of representing things visible and tangible to the artist. He famously said, "I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel, and I’ll paint one." Courbet's Realism involved portraying mundane subjects, such as working-class labourers and peasants, with a seriousness previously reserved for grand history painting.