Theodore Zimmerman.
Signed Print: " The beautiful reflected
light on the beach at Le Touquet, France. "
Theodore Zimmerman. (c)
"My interest in the light from the sun and reflected
light has now become a serious problem. I have been spending hours of my
working days looking directly at the sun and the effects
of bright reflected sunlight from the sky, sea and sands, and I now
feel that this activity is becoming like a drug to my
system. The brightness of the sun at mid-day beating down from a clear
blue sky creates a beautiful area of encircling atmospheric
light, and the figures in the painting appear to be floating above
the hot sandy beach with all other detail in the
background area becoming lost within the 'void of light'.
| Studied 19th and 20th century Impressionism
in Paris and London.
Paintings in pastel of his famous beach scenes at Le Touquet, Trouville, Honfleur, Brittany, the beaches of Normandy and the coast and countryside of France. Other important paintings of views of Italy, Venice, Spain, Majorca, Germany, Netherlands, America, Canada, Egypt and the Pyramids and in the Middle East. The pastels medium was used for the majority of the artist's works and only a relatively small number of oil paintings were ever completed. His painting technique in using oils was to use an old palette knife he had bought in a junk shop in Paris and with this he would lay on his colours, creating an attractive and vigorous surface reminiscent of the works of the Irish artist Jack Yeats. R.H.A. The figures in the painting are virtually sculptured into the paint surface with a spontaneity and movement of a master painter. He usually signed his work directly into the wet oil paints using the sharpened wooden end of a number 3 Rowney sable water-color brush. These sculptural type of oil paintings are highly prized and are mainly held by his family and friends. Large sizes of paint brushes were also used in a broad sweeping manner with a complete disregard for any kind of close detail creating a beautiful and vibrant picture surface. However, over the years, the main medium he used for his paintings were his beloved pastels, with which he painted his well known beach scenes and landscapes. Journeyed over to Ireland to see the paintings of J. B. Yeats and along the Irish coast, visiting Dublin and the quint fishing ports and on to the south of Eire and finally the Western Atlantic beaches. Regular visits to St. Ives and the south west coast of Cornwall during the summer months, painting interesting beaches and picturesque village scenes . In 1958 visited Patrick Heron at his new studio in Porthmeor, St. Ives. Cornwall . (Ben Nicholson's old studio.) where they discussed his latest works and current exhibitions. It was in late 50's when Theo painted several abstract works and impressions of the beach at Porthmeor, St. Ives. Theo painted scenes in many countries, his favourite places to paint were U.K., Ireland, Channel Islands, and the coastal beaches of France, Normandy and Brittany. Late series of paintings. The artists late series of paintings, full of colour, poetry and mysticism, are reminiscent of the best works by the painters Turner and Yeats. The style and color of these late works, which are on a much larger scale than Theo.'s early beach scenes of children, are some of the finest works of the 20th century. In these paintings, the forms and colours are almost totally diffused into light, giving an overall poetical and dream like quality.
L. S. Lowry R.A.
(c) Copyright. Society of Arts Academy and Theodore Zimmerman
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