Albert Lynch (Peruvian painter) 1860 - 1950
Although Albert Lynch was born in Peru, a descendant of an old Irish family that had emigrated to South America three generations previously, he studied and worked in Europe. Lynch began his artistic training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in the studio of Maria Augustin Gabriel Ferrier and, despite his young age, soon achieved success that made him one of the best known foreign artists in Paris. Lynch began his career as an illustrator for modern novels of the period, such as Balzac's Père Goriot or La Dame aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas. His talent was soon recognised by the Parisian "haute société" and he began to receive commissions for portraits which he exhibited on numerous occasions at the Salon of the Société des Artistes. In an article published in 1903, an art critic of the period commented on this widely acclaimed artist: 'He understands the human intelligence in an extraordinary degree; he summarises and analyses the character of his models, brings out the moral features and harmonises physical beauties. He is a realist, sees nature in a healthy way, and interprets it without formulas; his palette is sober, pure in tones, with marked intensities of colour. Expressive, frank, intimate and communicative, he is at once a humanist, a poet, and a psychologist' (F. L., "Studio Talk", Studio, vol. XXVII, 1903, p. 62). * * * Since Lynch had not the habit of dating his paintings, I can't order them chronologically, like I do with the other solo and family albums.
