Tuesday Art ATTACK- Jules Tavernier “Sunrise over Daimond Head”

Painter Jules Tavernier was born in Paris, France to an English father and a French mother in 1844. He studied art under Félix Barrias at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Taverniers skill earned his work a place at the Salon, which was the annual official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux. The Salon at the time was considered one of the finest art shows in the world. When the Franco-Russian War broke out in 1870 Tavernier joined the cause fighting as a solider and working as a felid artist. After the War in 1872 Tavernier sailed to New York and became a staff illustrator for Harpers Weekly. In 1874 he moved to San Francisco were he became very popular for his landscapes. His popularity made him a great deal of money, that he would squander with his extravagant lifestyle. To escape creditors in 1884 he fled San Francisco for Hawaii. Tavernier became the most important member of the Volcano School (a group of artists that painted dark landscapes of lava and volcanos in the 1880s-1890s.) Tavernier was only in Hawaii for a couple of years before his debts piled up. He tried to flee the island to again escape his debt, but was unable because Hawaiian law dictated people had to be debt free to leave the island. Tavernier eventually drank himself to death in 1889. This painting is a oil titled "Sunrise over Daimond Head" and was created in 1888.