Alexander Cozens

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Alexander Cozens (* 1717 in Saint Petersburg , † April 23, 1786 in London ) was a British landscape painter .

Life

Cozen's father was a shipbuilder for the Russian Tsar Peter the Great . Born in Russia, Cozens was raised in England. He was one of the first English artists to go to Italy for further training. From 1746 to 1749 he stayed in Rome. In close contact with the then most important Roman landscape painter, the French Claude Joseph Vernet , he experienced his decisive influence. Vernet painted in the tradition of Claude Lorrain . Cozen's studies of landscape painting brought him to reflect on the perception of nature and the art form. He wrote several treatises on it.

Influential art patrons and collectors, including the Prince of Wales and William Beckford , gave Cozens drawing lessons. The drawing lessons inspired Cozens to his "blot" method (Eng. "Blobs method"), which he described in detail in 1786 in the publication "A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape" . Originally, this technique was supposed to help his students create freer and more imaginative work. For example, he would run aimlessly across the canvas with quick strokes or he would crease paper on which he had spilled ink. His students were asked to work out landscapes or figures from the random forms and structures created in this way.

Alexander Cozens son was the artist John Robert Cozens. The original Alexander Cozens blots are owned by the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Busch: The sentimental picture. The crisis of art in the 18th century and the birth of modernity. CH Beck, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-37554-5 , p. 336 ff.
  2. ↑ Tate: 'A Blot: Landscape Composition', Alexander Cozens, c.1770-80 | Tate . In: Tate . ( org.uk [accessed June 2, 2018]).
  3. ↑ http://www.tate.org.uk/search?sort=acno&gid=65237&type=artwork
personal data
SURNAME Cozens, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British landscape painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1717
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1786
Place of death London