Critics

Summary

1. André Ruellan, 2006
2. Luis Porquet, 2005
3. Paris-Normandie, 2004
4. La Voix du Nord, 12 octobre 2003
5. Cécile Rochet-Graindorge, May 2003
6. André Ruellan, Art critic, 2002.
7. Paris-Normandie, 1996

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Whatever the format, technique or motif are, Bénédicte POUSSIN-JULIEN personifies an artist in whom lies purity and creativity, so much so that she can compose according to her likes what still represents an event, create a general work and a particular painting.

With her long fluid touch, which can be frankly muscled when she so decides; with a well-aimed range of colours, Bénédicte POUSSIN-JULIEN knows how to unleash a decisive force in a composition. She is so much more assertive when she combines beauty or fury of the elements with the limpid flights of nature.

Thus she composes her works according to the liking of her own sensitivity, always giving privilege to the subtlety of the analysis of a fleeting moment whose lure she captures and whose balance she tames.

Cities, spaces, seascapes, floral compositions and omnipresent nature...Here is an artist who knows how to communicate silence, which causes unusual painting-deep senses, such is her mastery of harmony annihilating all confusion to express only the bold, gripping brilliance of a poetic and talented creator.

André Ruellan, 2006

From Island to Island

Bénédicte Poussin-Julien says that she paints as if playing a game, conjuring up something of her childhood joys through her practice of the art. When she was about eight she went to children's painting classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Rouen every Wednesday. There she mainly used gouache, at the same time learning modeling. Much later she felt that she needed to improve her technique by going to the Godfroy's workshop and attending the classes of Frédéric Folie and Daniel Andrieux.

After teaching at a primary school for four years, Bénédicte Poussin had the opportunity to start studying lithography thanks to Madame Claessens, an artist from Bruges, and had some of her works exhibited at the Museum of Lithography at Lille. She uses water colour as well as oils which she enjoys because of their texture ; they give her the opportunity to use a brush, a knife or her fingers.

Apart from painting, Bénédicte Poussin's natural curiosity led her toward the performing arts. She created the Theatre workshop of Bois-Guillaume, where she taught music and movement to pupils of all ages. She also worked with the A.N.P.E. (French national employment office) to help the unemployed tu keep their spirit up. Social réintégration has become such an uphill task due to the reluctance of our societies to hire the over fifties.

Bénédicte Poussin was in a good hands : Jean Chevrin was her teacher at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique at Rouen. He was a man of an exceptional moral fibre. Time have changed. Bénédicte has made his motto hers : "Dare to go ahead !". Every day she puts such advice into pratice. Even if she had to give up teaching she has retained a feel for it : "My aim has always been to prove that thanks to acting and other artistic activities one can get children to overcome academic failure".

Our image of ourselves is reflected in the gaze of others, in their acceptance of whom we are or their hostility which has too often become a way of relating to each other. Unfortunately such simple truth is not always understood by our school system.

Is it still necessary to illustrate the therapeutic qualities of Art ? All those who practise an art recognize its therapeutic qualities. People need to understand that it is not necessary to suffer to practise an art. What is art if not a way of expressing oneself ? The artist must be inspired, he doesn't need to suffer.

Bénédicte says : "One can spend an entire life in search for expression. First I painted for pleasure, to play with colours. Now my work focuses more toward finding some harmony. I have a special admiration for Nicolas de Staël's works or Daniel Caplain's flat tints. I would like to be able to reach such purity one day, but I am still far from my goal. Outside influences reach us every day, maybe a book (I am an avid reader) or a film. Personally, I don't have any preconceived ideas, I am interested in everything, with a preference for Anglo-American or Scandinave literature." When we met there was a book of Martin Winckler on her table.

She mostly paints landscapes - therefore illustrating the four natural elements - Bénédicte likes to decorate little boxes with tiny objects found on the beach (bits of polished glass, pebbles, dried algae and such which are real treasures for who can discover them).
She uses them in charming paintings. She secretly cherishes a passion for play writing. She has written several plays. One of them "Apostrophes", written in 1987, was performed at the fringe festival in Avignon. In it she indicates how to meet the audience... by taking part in Bernard Pivot chat show.

Her travel experience can be found in her painting : Sri Lanka, Djerba, Croatia, Fuenteventura, Groix, Belle-Île.

However it would be useless to look for any hidden meaning in her paintings. Their only purpose is to give a poetical vision of the world. Bénédicte is a contented person who tries to put joy and light into her paintings.
She only tries sincerely to convey sensations and emotions by capturing the faint reflection of her soul on the shore.

Luis Porquet, 2005

Art and Imagination

Bénédicte Poussin-Julien was the Guest of Honour at the 11th Exhibition of the Artists oh The Quartier Jouvenet.

In thirty-six of her works on show, the artist displays various hues of light different sorts of atmosphere, seascapes, rivers, a well as floral themes. "I like to paint natural elements : air, water, wind, fire..."

Using various shades of blue, grey, red and green, the former pupil of l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Rouen, puts on canvas memories of her many travels.

A lover of colour and matter, Bénédicte Poussin-Julien admits that she finds a source of inspiration in the Russian painter Nicolas de Staël's works.

Whether she works with a brush, a palette knife or with her bare hands, the artist succeeds in expressing her passion in her oil-paintings. Her vivid works put a spell on the onlookers and draw them into a world of beauty and serenity. "Even if I paint in a figurative style, I want people to imagine whatever they feel like..." Such is Bénédicte Poussin's wish.

Paris-Normandie, 2004

"I love water, i am fascinated by it." says Bénédicte Poussin-Julien when she confesses her passion for the everlasting motion of the sea, the wind and the clouds.
One feels the taste of the sea and the spray when watching the twenty or so oil paintings selected by Mme Claeyssens (on exhibit at the Lithos gallery).
since chilhood Bénédicte has used the brush and the pallet knife. She was born in Rouen forty years ago. She did a ten-year stint on the stage but multiple sclerosis has somewhat limited her autonomy.
Painting makes Bénédicte feel happy. She likes creating forms, recapturing the atmosphere of the various beaches where she has been : the Bay of Somme, Saint Valéry en Caux, le cap Ferret, Arcachon.
Most of all, she likes the Mont Saint-Michel. She can draw it from memory, so vivid is her inner vision of the Mount.
Her sensuous style captures what is essential : light and nature. People are mere figures or multicoloured umbrellas. We can't see any faces.
In her paintings islands (her favourite subject), the finely shaded hues of merging earth and skies convey deep sensations.
A sense of triumph over adversity prevails in her works. Her style also conveys a sensation of softness.

La Voix du Nord, 12 octobre 2003

The painter works from the model. It generally is a holiday snapshot showing some landscape wich literally struck her. The elements of Nature play a major part in the artist's paintings : water, the wind, light, the sky dominate the composition. The subjects of her painting are not static and seem to be in a permanent evolution. This may due to the fact Benedicte Poussin-Julien paints to the sound of music ; she draws her inspiration from such artists as Brassens, Souchon or the sound of raggae music or a Murray Head's song.
If one feels as if one were watching an unfinished drawing or some painting whose motion has been frozen, it was a deliberate aim on the part of the artist : "I don't want my painting to be categorized as figurative. I like to suggest, to go straight to what I deem essential and allow the viewers to translate thanks to their own imaginations."

Cécile Rochet-Graindorge, May 2003

Painting requires complete dedication. It exposes the true personality of the artist, his qualities, his defects, his most inner self in each work.

Bénédicte POUSSIN-JULIEN is always true to herself. She is the very image of an accomplished painter whose oils and watercolours reflect communion with Nature.

She was born in Rouen, where she still lives, in 1963.

She attended the local Art College as well as the Conservatoire National de Région where she studied Drama.

She has also had several personal axhibitions with paintings of riverbanks, cities and flowers.

All these show the sensitivity of this artist. Her light touch and her choice of colours reveal the tender hues of sky and water.

As to her floral works, the artist shows a talent for presentation of her subject with a few daring touches.

André RUELLAN, Art critic, 2002.

Bénédicte Poussin-Julien : a perfect combination of a playwright and a painter.
From a very early age, Bénédicte Poussin-Julien found within herself a passion for drawing. At the age of 11, she started attending classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. During her teenage years she enrolled at the Conservatoire feeling an attraction for play acting. At the same time she practised oil painting as a body. Later she was always to reflect a combination of the theatre and painting in her works. But she also intended to be a schoolteacher. She taught for seven years after her Ph.D. in Sciences of Education. The move had a connection with her calling as an artist.
At the time, she was still attending drama classes at the conversatoire, which enabled her to indulge in writing plays and even teach in various schools and associations without ever relinquishing painting. In 1989-1990 she started devoting herself entirely to painting and taking part in exhibitions.
Because of her lively style, she was considered a "colourist".
"Water exercices a strong attraction upon me", she says. She likes painting seascapes, flowers in which the colour blue is dominant.
she also has a fondness for the sea in winter because it seems to her that its hues are less flat than in the summer months. When working outdoors, she focuses mainly on sketches and watercolours, but she also takes photos from which she works in her studio.
Besides she takes every opportunity to go to exhibitions, even when her works are not on show.

Paris-Normandie, 1996