Theodore Roussel French, 1947-1926

Theodore Roussel was a British painter and graphic artist, best known for his landscapes and genre scenes.

Born and raised in France, Roussel’s formative years were split between the Brittany countryside and Paris. Being called to serve in the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 impacted his early adulthood but after two years of active duty he was injured and subsequently discharged from the military. This dismissal allowed Roussel the opportunity to start painting, entirely self-taught he initially adopted the style of the Old Masters, closely studying their techniques. The artist relocated to London in 1878 where he settled and later married. He quickly befriended his neighbour James McNeill Whistler who would become a lifelong artistic mentor, the watercolours and oils of this period are very much indebted to Whistler in both subject matter and technique.

Roussel’s first exhibition at the New English Art Club in 1887 simmered with controversy owing to a life-size nude entitled ‘The Reading Girl’ which scandalised critics. Despite attracting scorn from some members of the press at his career debut, this notoriety did much for his career; years later ‘The Reading Girl’ would be written about with much admiration by the peers of the artist. Following Whistler, who had been made President of the Royal Society of British Artists a year earlier, Roussel joined as a member in 1887. When Whistler resigned a few years later, so too did Roussell, Walter Sickert and Alfred Stevens.

In 1888, at the encouragement of Whistler, Roussel began to experiment with etching and drypoint and was later an early adopter of colour etching in Britain, with a particular interest in colour science. He adopted some elements of Whistler’s process, for instance working out in nature, but quickly established a distinct signature style which was arguably first seen in a series of depictions of Chelsea Embankment. Parallels with Whistler continued to be drawn over the course of Roussel's career: both artists preferred to design their own frames, and they shared models, namely the Pettigrew sisters (also popular with Pre-Raphaelite painters William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais).Roussel was President of the Society of Graver Printers in Colour from its inception in 1909 until his death.  Roussel also exhibited with the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers and co-founded the Allied Artists’ Association alongside peers such as Lucien Pissarro and Philip Wilson Steer. The artist died in 1926 and his work his featured in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Gallery, among other collections.