Interview with Philippe Fourquet

I am embarrassed to say that I was unfamiliar with Philippe Fourquet and his work until the show in Kulmbach (2015—My head must have been in a hole in the ground.) But, you could not attend the show without becoming familiar with his work.

There was a beautiful work at Regina Sontag’s table, engraved by her, and painted by Philippe Fourquet.

Philippe has also painted figures engraved by Wolfgang Friedrich:

In the building across the way from the tent, the French flat society had a table with beautiful displays of painted figures, advertising unpainted flats for sale. Many were painted by Philippe Fourquet.

Needless to say, he is a very popular painter, and for good reason, his work is beautiful.

Philippe consented to engaging in a brief interview of his work.

Interview:

1. Do you paint in oils, acrylics, enamels, or a combination of mediums?

First, I only paint with oils, I don’t know the other techniques.

2. What can you tell us about your technique? Do you paint more in washes and glazes, or blending two or more colors together?

I undercoat my figures with enamel (white skull from Citadel). I always paint in “fresh paint”, not glazes. I delineate the different areas on my figures, the shadows and the highlights. Then I put my different tones of color, dark, medium and light, and I blend the different tones with little touches of the brush. I blend several color together to get my “good” color.

3. Do you have any favorite engravers, or engravings?

I am sorry, but I’m not original with my favorite engravers, it’s a pleasure for me to paint figures from L. Frank, F.K Mohr, and in the new generation I like W. Friedrich with his very fine engraving.

4. Who has influenced your painting style and technique?

I did not learn my technique with a “master” or a “teacher”, but by looking at the pictures to see how to place shadows and to mix colors and I progress slowly.

5. What advice can you give to painters who want to improve?

For the “new flat painters” I just want to said : don’t be afraid, be patient, careful, don’t forget it’s a leisure, take pleasure, and the most important, you have to be proud of your work—you and not the others.

6. Is there anything you would like to add concerning the flat world, painting or engraving that I failed to ask?

Of course there are a lot of things to say about tin figures. The simple object unpainted, just the engraving is so fine, it’s an artwork. Some years ago I painted round figures, but for me the flats are more artistic. We need to create the depth and also the choice of colors is very important. In my figures, for the metallic parts, I don’t use metallic paints, but I create the effect of metal with my oils. I prefer this way. I think the figure is more “homogeneous”.

With flat figures there are also an infinite number of subjects and “periods”. My favorites are the 30 mm, but some large size are also very interesting and permit a real painter work. And with 30 mm. I’m not afraid to paint large series of 20, 30 or more figures, I have several such series.

I belong to a figure society the afcfef.fr with several flat painters, and we produce our own flat figures, groups in 40 mm, and a new series the “Grands capitaines” in 54 mm. Those figures are designed by Francis Quiquerez and engraved by Daniel Lepeltier. It’s ever an adventure to create a figure. We have to imagine the subject, then the drawing is another step, and at last to paint the model. Very exiting. So exciting, that I create my own figures.

Battle of Morat. Figures from Glorious Empire