The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word RENOIR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
R
E
N
O
I
R
More clues leading to the result RENOIR
- Film director’s take ending in the colour associated with bleak movies
- Note on black French artist
- Artist redesigned interior – it is outstanding
- French film director‘s darkly thrilling take on bible stories etc?
- It’s to do with wrought-iron artist
- Among maestri, one raised towards the heavens as an artist
- Current individual reflected in middle of mirror is artist
- Artist using mainly scarlet and black, as he said
- Artist appearing in American gambling centre I run
- Artist on film, rarely happy
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "artist" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case artist = renoir.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.