The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (200 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
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gouache
.
Opaque
watercolour
, sometimes also known as
body colour
. It differs from transparent watercolour in that the
pigments
are bound with glue and the lighter tones are obtained by the admixture of white pigment. Its degree of opacity varies with the amount of white which is added, but in general is sufficient to prevent the reflection of the
ground
through the paint and it therefore lacks the luminosity of transparent watercolour painting. It is, however, easier to use, as trials and errors can be painted over. The colours sold as poster paints by commercial colourmen are usually a form of gouache.
Goujon , Jean
(
c.
1510–68).
French sculptor. He ranks second only to Germain
Pilon
as the greatest French sculptor of the 16th cent. and he created a distinctive
Mannerist
style as sophisticated as the finest works of painting and decoration of the contemporary School of
Fontainebleau
. Nothing is known of his early life and he is first recorded in 1540 as the carver of the fine columns supporting the organ loft in the church of S. Maclou at Rouen. The pure
classicism
of these columns has caused some critics to assume that he had first-hand knowledge of Italian art. He had moved to Paris by 1544, when he was working on the screen of S. Germain-l'Auxerrois, in collaboration with the architect Pierre Lescot. Low-
relief
panels (now in the Louvre) from this screen show that Goujon had evolved a style of extreme grace and delicacy, owing something to the influence of Benvenuto
Cellini
. The style is seen at its most mature in his decorations (now in the Louvre) for the
Fontaine des Innocents
, Paris (1547–9). The six relief panels of nymphs from the fountain, with their exquisitely carved rippling draperies, are generally considered his masterpieces. Goujon's most extensive undertaking was on the sculptural decoration of the
Louvre
; he worked there from 1549 to 1562 in collaboration with Lescot, mainly on decorative panels forming part of the architectural scheme. Unfortunately all Goujon's work there has been heavily restored, including the famous
caryatids
(1550–1) in the Salle des Caryatides. Using caryatids on a monumental scale was a novelty, perhaps inspired by his reading of Vitruvius (he made illustrations for the first French edition of his treatise in 1547). There is no indication of any work executed after 1562 and it is possible that Goujon left France because of religious persecution and died in Bologna (the documentation is ambiguous).
Gower , George
(d. 1596).
English portrait painter. He was appointed Serjeant-Painter to Queen Elizabeth in 1581 and seems to have been the leading English portraitist of his day. His
Sir Thomas Kytson
and
Lady Kytson
(Tate , London, 1573) show his clear and individual, if unsubtle, style. Gower was a gentleman by birth and his
Self-Portrait
(Earl Fitzwilliam Coll., 1579) shows his coat of arms outweighed in a balance by a pair of dividers, a symbol of the painter's craft.
Gowing , Sir Lawrence
(1918–91).
British painter and writer on art. He had a distinguished academic career, during which he was Deputy Director of the
Tate Gallery
(1965–7) and a professor at several universities (notably at the
Slade
School, 1975–85), and he wrote books and catalogues, valued for their critical insights, on numerous artists, among them
Cézanne
,
Matisse
, and
Vermeer
. As a painter he began as a pupil of
Coldstream
working in the
Euston Road
tradition, and much of his subsequent work was in this sombre vein. His work also included abstracts, however, and in 1976 he began producing large pictures in which he traced the outline of his own naked body stretched on the canvas, the paint being applied by an assistant.

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