A terrific and powerful example of Dorignac’s sculpture-like drawings in black. This impressive face of a woman condenses all the major and singular characteristics of Dorignac’s graphic work: the tight frame, the monumentality, the black color, the volume and the dignity given to anonymous working figures. The tenebrous faces of women rising from the golden … Continue reading “Georges Dorignac”
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Jean-Auguste Barre
Medallist and sculptor, Jean-Auguste Barre was widely recognised for his small statuette-portraits, a fashion that started in the 1830’s. An object of great desire amongst the 19th century public, due to its small size, its efficient and affordable distribution in series, and easy placement in bourgeois apartments. In his signature style of powerful romanticism, Barre … Continue reading “Jean-Auguste Barre”
Didier Petit de Meurville
Didier Petit de Meurville – painter, art aficionado and prominent collector of antiques and religious art – had many talents, which he seemed to exercise simultaneously and successfully. Born in Haiti in 1793, when the political climate was tumultuous, Petit de Meurville ventured to Lyon and began his career as a silk manufacturer. Soon, the … Continue reading “Didier Petit de Meurville”
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
The portraits of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux are always powerful works. Here, Carpeaux portrayed the French sculptor, Joseph Osbach. This young man was most probably a student of Carpeaux. The 4th August 1874, the painter mentioned in his journal working on a portrait of Osbach. However, there is a second portrait of the sculptor by the artiste. … Continue reading “Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux”
Victor Paul Vignon
Still included in the School of Barbizon by some art historians, Victor Paul Vignon lived and painted the best part of his life on the shores of the Seine and Oise rivers in the region of Ile-de-France, a popular spot for the Impressionist painters. He was known for his relatively small paintings, mainly of the … Continue reading “Victor Paul Vignon”
Léon Spilliaert
The Cloud was painted circa 1902-1903, a very intense period marked by a great surge in the artist’s talent. The whole of Spilliaert is already there and every aspect of his work can be recognized, with the exception of garish colors which will start appearing in his pieces around 1912-1913. The female image was the … Continue reading “Léon Spilliaert”
Maurice Denis
The painting is a study for one of the artist’s major works, La Visitation, and dated from 1894. Presented at the Salon de la Nationale in 1895, it was acquired a few years later by Sergueï Chtchoukine, a famous collector of Matisse and Picasso, and is now kept in the collection of the Hermitage Museum … Continue reading “Maurice Denis”
