Object Description
Harbour scene
Circa 1890
Oil on canvas, framed
Inscribed and dated: AW Finch 189*
91 cm. wide x 69.5. cm. high, framed 107 cm. by 85.5 cm.
This attractive late impressionist painting of a harbour scene with sailing boats is by the Anglo-Belgian painter, Alfred William Finch. Alfred William Finch was born in 1854 in Brussels, Belgium, to British parents. He spent his early years in Ostende before studying for one year in Brussels at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts.
In 1883 Finch became a founding member of Les XX, a group of twenty Belgian artists who rebelled against the prevailing academy style. Influenced by the works of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, Finch changed his own painting technique into a more impressionistic, pointillist style. In the following years, Finch became a leading proponent of this style in Belgium, along with Théo van Rysselberghe.
During the early 1890s Finch switched careers from painting to pottery. In 1897, invited by count Louis Sparre, Finch moved to Porvoo, Finland, to head the Iris ceramics factory, and influenced the development of the local Jugendstil. After the factory was closed, Finch resumed his painting career. Finch died in Helsinki in 1930.