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Cross Henri-Edmond | 1856-1910 | [ Back | Photos ]
Henri-Edmond Delacroix, son of French
father and British mother, was born
in Douai in 1856 and spent his childhood
and youth in Lille. At the age of
ten, he took drawing and painting
lessons from E.A. Carolus-Duran and
then studied briefly under Colas at
the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
In 1878, he settled in Paris and
there made friends with François
Bonvin whose work influenced him for
some time. In 1881, Delacroix first
exhibited at the Salon under the English
pseudonym of Cross, which he had chosen
in order not to be confused with Henri-Eugène
Delacroix who was exhibiting at the
same period. Under the influence of
Impressionists, especially after his
trips in 1883 to the South of France
and his meetings with Monet, he altered
his style from the dark colors of
realism to the brighter ones of Impressionism.
In May 1884, Cross took part in the
first exhibition of the Salon des
Artistes Indépendants and,
in 1891, was elected Vice-President
of the Société des Artistes
Indépendants. By then he had
become one of the leading exponents
of Neo-Impressionism. His style changed
sharply.
He painted with rectangular divided
strokes, creating canvases full of
color, e.g. The Iles d'Or, Beach on
the Mediterranean, Evening Breeze.
As many of his friends Cross supported
Anarchism and drew illustrations for
their magazines. The summer of 1904
Cross spent in Saint-Tropez with Paul
Signac. There he got acquainted with
Matisse; under the influence of the
Pointillist manner the latter created
his famous Luxe, calme et volupté.
Cross often visited Italy and in
1908 he spent July and August in Tuscany
and Umbria, visiting Florence, Pisa,
Assisi and other Italian towns. Here
he painted many studies of nature,
which he used for his 1909 and 1910
landscapes. Cypress Trees at Cagnes.
View of the Church of Santa Maria
Degli Angeli near Assisi.
Signac called Cross the lonely genius,
‘impassive and consistent thinker,
who is simultaneously a passionate
and strange dreamer’. From year
to year Cross’ palette became
richer and richer; the strong colors
of his late works are close to Fauvism.
Rheumatism compelled the artist to
spend his summers in the South of
France; he finally settled at Saint-Clair
where he died on May 16, 1910.
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