The Var at the time of painting:

Christine BENSON exhibits at Callian

Christine Benson exhibits until April 30 at the Wenona gallery, on the town hall square of Callian. The artist has been living in the Var for some time.

First in Bargemon, then in Montauroux, where she set up her studio. Last summer, she had a remarkable exhibition in Seillans. In England Christine Benson lived in Bournemouth. The opening was attended by a number of English, American, and French artists. Since then the exhibition has been visited by various art lovers who all appreciate the rigor of this painter who illustrates well the quote of the English art critic P. G. Harmerton, who also lived in France in the last century, according to which, “painting does not proceed so much by intelligence as by sight, the feeling of invention”. (The art of painting does not proceed so much by intelligence as by sight and feeling and invention)

Mrs. Benson excels in the art of portraiture and she expresses admirably what is indescribable in a face, more alive and deeper than mere appearances. But she was also able to see the beauty of the landscapes. Some exceptional English landscapes of Dorset or Hampshire, but above all the closed Var horizons of Callian, Seillans, Brovès, Comps, the gorges of the Verdon whose tinted masses unite, according to Cézanne’s words, “the curves of the hills with the hips of the women.” We will also like a very beautiful nude with shimmering flesh, a striking “counterpoint to the Cosmos” as well as still lifes of the most exquisite “onions and tomatoes”, “bunches of grapes”, etc.

An interesting exhibition that enlightened amateurs will enjoy visiting.

Paul CHOVELON.