Archives: Artists

Born in Kolozsv‡r, Transylvania to Hungarian parents, Francois Gall was supported by the government in his early art education, studying first in Rome and then after coming home to teach, he headed for the l'Ecole Nationale de Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1936. Once exposed to the light and color of the Impressionists, he was forever…

An artist of undeniable ability and powers of observation, Luigi Loir would become one of the foremost painters of views of Paris. His early popularity was gained with his commissions to paint murals and ceilings, including many at the Chateaux du Diable in 1866, a year after he debuted at the Paris Salon to high…

The prolific Roux family of French marine painters produced no less than six practitioners of ship portraiture. Working mainly in watercolor, the family produced throughout the 19th century an amazing output totaling over 7000 pictures. Francois Geoffroi Roux was the youngest of the Roux family. He is noted for painting more ambitious themes than his…

Original advertising art done at the Industrial Trade School Arles, France which closed in 1953.

The gifted French painter and engraver, Eugene Galien-Laloue is most widely noted for his views of Paris that captured the exact atmosphere of the "city of light" at the turn of the century. As well, the artist selected picturesque sites alon

A technically precise artist, Gustave Loiseau attracted the right individuals early in his career to make his path a success. After studying in his hometown of Paris at the School of Decorative Arts and with noted landscapist Fernand Quignone, Loiseau left for Port-Aven on the Brittany Coast. There he associated closely with Paul Gauguin, Henry…

An artist who developed close professional ties with the French Navy, Charles Fouqueray occupies an important and unique niche in the annuals of French art. While public tastes and the Salons were riding the innovation and birth of Impressionism, Fouqueray dove wholeheartedly into a well-defined, tight realism for his romantic portrayals of the importance of…

A genre painter who arose from the crowd of artists following in the wake of the Impressionists of France to make an impact through paintings of people at recreation at the beach and in the mountains. He excelled in the use of both oil and watercolor, studying with Bonnat and Maignan. He became a member…

Influenced directly by the strong lines and bright colorful paintings of Kees von Dongen, Jean Pierre Cassigneul made immediate inroads into the world of fine art with his 20th Century paintings. Born in Paris in 1935, he exhibited his first solo exhibition at 17 and never looked back. He studied at the National Academies, and…

As a teenager, Louis Valtat took to an artistic career and never looked back. Studying at the Lycée Hoche in Versailles near his family home, he gained admission to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1886, and won his first award, the Jauvin d'Attainville prize in 1890. During these years and beyond, Valtat would make…

The Roux family of Mediterranean port painters was made up of no less than six important marine artists who were all born in the French seaport of Marseille. The second son of Antoine Roux (1765-1835), Francois Joseph Frederic Roux, known as Frederic, was the third generation of this important dynasty of sea painters. By 1822,…

A lifelong friend of Henri Matisse and Albert Marquet, each of whom Charles Camoin met while enrolled in the Beaux-Arts de Paris, the three artists were primary among those referred to as "Wild Beasts", or "Fauvists". Camoin himself was instrumental in the 1905 exhibit where art critic Louis Vauxcelles backhandedly anointed the artists with the…

Renoir was born on February 25, 1841, in the small manufacturing town of Limoges. His family moved to Paris when he was four years old. Gounod advised him to become a musician, but Renoir felt more compulsion toward the graphic arts. At thirteen he joined a ceramic establishment where he painted flowers on porcelain. Later…

Gifted in being allowed to live "the dreaming life" as he proclaimed, Octave Guillonnet proved to be an extraordinary talent. He entered the art studio of Lionel Royer in Paris at the young age of 13, won his first award at 15, and by the time he was 20, he earned the rank of Hors-Concours…

Born to French parents, after an introduction to art in his native country from the Brothers Ludec, Maxime Camille Louis Maufra studied the basics of business commerce across the Channel and up the coast of Britain in Liverpool. He also imbued himself of that storied port's tradition of marine art. While his career influences would…

An artist of significant output and social beliefs, Maximilien Luce started out from a working class beginning to become one of the most important post-impressionist artists in all of Europe. In part due to his close relationship with his most significant mentor, Camille Pissarro, he championed Anarchist beliefs and chose to portray "everyday people" in…

The pivotal French painter Gustave Courbet has often been called the father of realist painting. Born in Ornans to a prosperous farming family, Courbet initially taught himself to paint by copying paintings he saw at the Louvre, especially the works of 17th century naturalists such as Velazquez and Caravaggio. Scorning the romantic and academic themes…