Charles Cottet was born in Le Puy, Auvergne, in the southern France. In 1882 he went to Paris aspiring to be a painter. He studied under Puvis de Chavannes, a decorative artist, but he was not influenced by his decorative style. He then devoted himself to drawing nature that lied in front of him.
In 1892, Cottet visited Bretagne in the north western part of France for the first time. It is a peninsula facing the Atlantic. It was scarcely populated by farming and fishing villages and there spread a simple and uncultivated landscape. He fell in love with this region and started to draw the lives of people there in a realistic way using dark colors; fishermen in a storm and religious women and children taking part in a procession of the Spirits' Festival. There paintings seem to reflect his compassion for those people who led a poor life but were religious.
This painting "Old Horse in the Wasteland" was drawn in Bretagne. A haggard horse is stretching its neck in a search for grass at a barren land along the shore. One may see, in this old horse, the sadness of life of people in their ebbing years.
In 1890, he participated in the efforts together with Aman-Jean to establish Salon de la Societe National des Beaux-Arts. Torajiro Kojima was very keen on collecting art works of Cottet, a friend of Aman-Jean. At the present time the Ohara Museum owns 5 oil paintings and 19 wood block prints created by Cottet in its collection.
Reference: "The best Selection of the National Museum of Modern Art" (the National Museum of Modern Art), 1989
Anecdote
Let us introduce someone who is specially attached to the painting.
Looking back, it is over 50 years ago when we were young, but had to think of, look into and confront with death. "To the mother country to which we had bid an eternal farewell, we have come back again."
This is how I felt when I returned to Japan after spending many years at battle fields. The country had most of its cities literally burned down and was devastated. Standing in front of the Ohara Museum of Art, which I had not expected to see again, I cried in my heart, "Thank you, Museum, for staying alive."
Hearing the account that each art work, which I had been familiar with since I was a boy and remembered their respective name, was moved to a safer place and stayed unaffected by the war, I thought of immeasurable toils people had gone through and had both my hand pressed with one another in great appreciation. Beauty saves the world. It is really true that "anything that surrounds us is a teacher." Among them, "Old Horse in the Wasteland" by Cottet is.
The 26th Unit of the 4th Cavalry Brigade was the only remaining cavalry unit on horse back in Japan and I was one of them. I said good-bye to "Old Horse in the Wasteland" of Cottet thinking I would never ever see it again. But when I saw it again, surviving the war, I thought of fellow soldiers who died together with their horses for the mother land. The image of the "Old Horse in the Wasteland" that Cottet portrayed reminded me of thousands of horses which perished in the battle fields without expressing themselves. And I came to think that this was the image of each of more than four thousands military horses left in China. Tears welled up in my eyes and I joined my hands in payer.
Fifty years later, I still feel the same way.
Quoted from "Together with 29 Million People" in "Fifty Years after the War" by Mr. Tomotake Iwahashi.
Old Horse in the Wasteland
Commentary
Charles Cottet was born in Le Puy, Auvergne, in the southern France. In 1882 he went to Paris aspiring to be a painter. He studied under Puvis de Chavannes, a decorative artist, but he was not influenced by his decorative style. He then devoted himself to drawing nature that lied in front of him.
In 1892, Cottet visited Bretagne in the north western part of France for the first time. It is a peninsula facing the Atlantic. It was scarcely populated by farming and fishing villages and there spread a simple and uncultivated landscape. He fell in love with this region and started to draw the lives of people there in a realistic way using dark colors; fishermen in a storm and religious women and children taking part in a procession of the Spirits' Festival. There paintings seem to reflect his compassion for those people who led a poor life but were religious.
This painting "Old Horse in the Wasteland" was drawn in Bretagne. A haggard horse is stretching its neck in a search for grass at a barren land along the shore. One may see, in this old horse, the sadness of life of people in their ebbing years.
In 1890, he participated in the efforts together with Aman-Jean to establish Salon de la Societe National des Beaux-Arts. Torajiro Kojima was very keen on collecting art works of Cottet, a friend of Aman-Jean. At the present time the Ohara Museum owns 5 oil paintings and 19 wood block prints created by Cottet in its collection.
Reference: "The best Selection of the National Museum of Modern Art" (the National Museum of Modern Art), 1989
Anecdote
Let us introduce someone who is specially attached to the painting.
Looking back, it is over 50 years ago when we were young, but had to think of, look into and confront with death. "To the mother country to which we had bid an eternal farewell, we have come back again."
This is how I felt when I returned to Japan after spending many years at battle fields. The country had most of its cities literally burned down and was devastated. Standing in front of the Ohara Museum of Art, which I had not expected to see again, I cried in my heart, "Thank you, Museum, for staying alive."
Hearing the account that each art work, which I had been familiar with since I was a boy and remembered their respective name, was moved to a safer place and stayed unaffected by the war, I thought of immeasurable toils people had gone through and had both my hand pressed with one another in great appreciation. Beauty saves the world. It is really true that "anything that surrounds us is a teacher." Among them, "Old Horse in the Wasteland" by Cottet is.
The 26th Unit of the 4th Cavalry Brigade was the only remaining cavalry unit on horse back in Japan and I was one of them. I said good-bye to "Old Horse in the Wasteland" of Cottet thinking I would never ever see it again. But when I saw it again, surviving the war, I thought of fellow soldiers who died together with their horses for the mother land. The image of the "Old Horse in the Wasteland" that Cottet portrayed reminded me of thousands of horses which perished in the battle fields without expressing themselves. And I came to think that this was the image of each of more than four thousands military horses left in China. Tears welled up in my eyes and I joined my hands in payer.
Fifty years later, I still feel the same way.
Quoted from "Together with 29 Million People" in "Fifty Years after the War" by Mr. Tomotake Iwahashi.
Painting
Apple Picking
Small Table in Evening Dusk
Song of Songs (Le Cantique des Cantiques)
Haystacks
Waterlilies
Cliff of Gréville
Coutyard at the ‘Rondest House’, Pontoise
Woman Wearing a Hat with Silk Gauze
Delightful Land (Te Nave Nave Fenua)
All Things Die, But All Will Be Resurrected through God’s Love
Wave
Carriage and Pair
Three Dancers in Red Costume
Autumn Sea
Old Horse in the Wasteland
Landscape
Festival of Venis
Hair
Winter Orchard
Beethoven
Landscape of La Ferté-Milon
Annunciation