Hippolyte Petitjean

Hippolyte Petitjean painted bathers, riverbanks and quiet country scenes in small dots and strokes of pure colour, the technique of the Neo-Impressionists. His figures have a calm, classical grace, and his landscapes shimmer with light.

Born in Mâcon, he studied there and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Alexandre Cabanel. He admired Puvis de Chavannes, and after meeting Georges Seurat in 1884 he took up pointillism, working alongside Paul Signac and Camille Pissarro. He later loosened his touch before returning to the dotted style around 1910. His work is in the Musée d’Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum.

Bathers by a Stream and A Walk on the Banks of a River show his mix of gentle figures and luminous colour.