Hippolyte Petitjean (French 1854-1929)
The French artist Hippolyte Petitjean mastered to perfection the Neo-Impressionist technique pointillism.
Born in Min 1854, Petitjean began his art studies at the age of 13 at the local École de dessin. The town gave him a grant to enter at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied under Alexandre Cabanel and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. By far the most significant event in Petitjean's development was meeting Seurat in 1884 who encouraged him to join the Neo-Impressionists, where he was also influenced by Paul Signac and Camille Pissarro. Petitjean's work shows a greater concern for expression, structure and form than did the Impressionist artists. His imaginative works and re-evaluation of Impressionist theory mark the Neo-Impressionists as notably pioneering artists of the late 19th century.
Petitjean exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1891 and thereafter at Le Barc de Bouteville together with the symbolists and impressionists. He also exhibited in Brussels, Berlin, Weimar and Wiesbaden.