Bouguereau Painting in Fakes and Forgeries Exhibit
“Reverie”, Portrait of a Girl
24″ x 36″, Pastiche, after William Bouguereau
by Charles C. Clear III
SPRING BULL ART GALLERY on Bellevue Avenue in beautiful Newport, Rhode Island just completed their 30th Annual “Fakes and Forgeries” exhibit, which ran from January 16th to February 27th, 2021. It’s a very popular exhibit where Artists are asked to paint a forgery of a famous painting.
Last year was the first year that I participated in the Fakes and Forgeries Exhibit, and my painting “Portrait of Gabrielle Cot” by the French Artist William Bouguereau won the People’s Choice Award for 2020! The People’s Choice Award is where everyone who visits the Art Gallery over the course of the Show can vote on their favorite painting. The Show always has a lot of good paintings by very talented local Artists, so it was an honor to hear that my painting was chosen by the visitors to the Gallery!
The rest of 2020 was a hectic year. The pandemic was raging, and I had a mountain of commissioned work – mostly murals. By the time I returned home in early December from painting a mural in New Hampshire, it was already almost time for the next Fakes and Forgeries Exhibit. If I wanted to participate I would have to work quickly – there was little time to spare!
I decided to paint another masterpiece by William Bouguereau – a painting from 1899 titled “Reverie”, which features a little girl sitting on some steps. It seemed like it would be simple enough to paint, but as it turns out, it was a fairly ambitious piece. My painting, seen here, is a 24″ x 36″ oil on gallery-wrapped canvas. It’s a good likeness to the original, and I enjoyed painting it.
Spring Bull Gallery notified me at the conclusion of the latest Fakes and Forgeries Show that my painting won the People’s Choice Award for 2021! It’s an honor to receive this award two years in a row! Thanks to everyone who voted!
Charles C. Clear III
cc@oceanstateart.com