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Sarah Purser studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. She decided to become a professional portrait painter, and continue her training in Paris. She studied at the Academie Julian in 1878-79, by which time there was a separate top floor studio for women. Purser's determination distinguished her from other more privileged Irish artists of the period, and it may seem unconventional for a young Irish woman to go alone to Paris. After six months Purser returned to Dublin, but she continued to visit Paris regularly until well into the twentieth century. Some of her early portraits are dark, belonging to the contemporary French portrait style as practiced by Carolus-Duran and at Julian's, close in style to Louise Breslau.
An interesting article on Sarah Purser, "A Painter and a Fighter" can be found on the Irish Times web site.
| Le Petit Dejeuner, 1885 |
This sensitive study of a girl in a room
or Paris cafe is one of Sarah Purser's finest early portraits, painted on
one of her frequent visits to Paris. The girl, seated at breakfast, is the
Italian singer Maria Feller, who was a close friend of Purser. She has a
sad, abstracted expression and there is an engaging, contemporary French
atmosphere of melancholy or 'ennui',
reminiscent of Degas, whom Purser admired. Purser had met Degas, and his influence is apparent in the
informal pose and the snapshot effect of the composition. This cutting of
composition and informality are unusual in an Irish portrait of this period. |
| Maud Gonne | Dr. Douglas Hyde, Poet, Scholar, and First President of Ireland | |
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