Constantine Lindsay Ltd.

Artist / Maker / Factory

GEORGES D'ESPAGNAT (1870-1950)

Medium / Material

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

38.00cm wide   46.00cm high (14.96 inches wide  18.11 inches high)

Description

Georges d’Espagnat is best known as a Post-Impressionist and symbolist painter, who whilst sharing tendencies with both Fauvism and Impressionism, managed to create a style uniquely his own. Right from the beginning of his career it was important to him to assert his originality and this led him to decline the academic training of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and choose instead to study the works of the Old Masters in the Louvre. He also travelled to Italy where he admired the work and wonderful colouring of the Venetians, particularly Titian and Tintoretto. In 1891 he took part in the Salon des Refusés and the following year exhibited four paintings at the Salon des Indépendants. In 1895 he had his first one man show in Paris and three years after that a show of his work was held at the Durand-Ruel Gallery, a partnership that was to continue throughout his life, including exhibitions at their New York gallery. In around 1900 he encountered Maurice Denis, Bonnard and Vuillard and his collaboration with Denis led to a renewal of religious art in France. During this period he was a founder member of the Salon D’Automne and later in 1934 d’Espagnat was nominated head Professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Although he never received the recognition of some of his peers, he went on to become one of the most individualistic of French 20th Century painters. He exhibited with many of the greats of the period including Bonnard, Chagall, Matisse, Picasso, Seurat and Toulouse-lautrec and had a close friendship with Renoir. He died in Paris in 1950 and was honoured the following year by a retrospective exhibition at the Salon d’Automne, of which he had been Vice-President. His work is well represented in Museums and private collections around the world, amongst them the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pushkin Museum, Moscow and the Musée d’Orsay.

Provenance

Private Collection France

Exhibitions

Gallery Durand-Ruel, Avenue Friedland, Paris.
G d'Espagnat, 15 March - 21 March 1967, (No45).

Current Condition

Excellent