# FINCH, Alfred William [View the canonical artist record]() ## Artist - Lifespan: 1854–1930 - Profession: painter - School: Belgian ## Biography Belgian painter and potter. He studied painting at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts et Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Brussels from 1878 to 1880. He was a founder-member of Les XX, a group of 20 avant-garde artists who held annual exhibitions of paintings and decorative arts between 1884 and 1895. Initially Finch painted land- and seascapes in the Impressionist style. In 1887 he saw Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon at the Ile de la Grande Jatte, and he became the first Belgian to adopt Neo-Impressionism. In 1889 he exhibited for the first time with the Indépendants in Paris. From 1891 he concentrated on ceramics. In 1897 he was appointed Director of a ceramics concern in Finland. He introduced Finnish painters to the new styles of Neo-Impressionism and worked at the revival of Finnish architecture. ## Related artworks - [Haystacks]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()