Unknown

'The Park' by M. Phidias (circa 1920s)

circa 1920s

'Le Jardin du Luxembourg', oil on canvas, by Marie de Nivouliès de Pierrefort (circa 1910). Parisians are not equivocal about their park preferences. Some clearly favour the Tuileries, while others stand firmly with feet planted in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Perhaps this is analogous to residents' strongly-held preferences for either the Café Deux Magots or the Café de Flore, just down the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Back to the gardens though, I have always been captivated by the Luxembourg Gardens. It's the lawns, tree-lined promenades, tennis courts, flowerbeds, model sailboats on its octagonal Grand Bassin, as well as the picturesque Medici Fountain...

'Theatre in the Park' gouache on art paper, French School (circa 1930s, signature unknown). A charming vignette of costumed performers in an open air...

'Landscape', oil on canvas, by Charles Kvapil (1928). The artist, Kvapil, has scores of tremendous artworks which depict scenes in nature such as this one. Here, a bit of Mediterrane...

'Parc des Buttes-Chaumont' in Paris, gouache on art paper, by Lucien Génin (circa 1930s). A charming depiction of well turned out Parisians enjoying a day at the park. Boaters, strollers and swans all co-mingle around the peaceful lake. The reflection of the rocky bluff in the water is superbly treated by Génin. It's a cheerful and uplifting image of days-gone-by in 1930s Paris. The park takes its name from the 'bare hill' (chauve-mont) that once occupied the site. It became a place where gypsum was mined, and where the limestone was quarried to be used in buildings in Paris and the United States. Worse, though, it was a site that also became a dumping ground. Luckily, during the 19th-century renovation of Paris under Napoleon III, chauve-mont was chosen as a place for a large park, as part of the emperor's fascination with endowing Paris with green spaces. The artificial lake created at that time wraps around a hilly central island. The lake attracts waterfowl and other birds and is stocked with fish. The 19th-century planners cleaned up the site and added tons of soil to fill the pits left by a limestone mining operation. Then dynamite was used to "sculpt" the site into the craggy shapes seen today, including the 50-metre-high central hill with cliffs, an interior grotto, pinnacles, and arches. Up on top, overlooking the rest of the park - and depicted in this artwork - is a small, round belvedere, based on the Roman Temple of Vesta in Italy. From that spot you can see a lovely view of Montmartre and the white cupolas of the Sacre-Coeur. The painting is in very good condition. It has been newly framed and glazed with museum-quality glass (anti-reflective and UV protection) to preserve this significant artwork for decades to come. Dimensions with frame: H 62 cm / 24.4" W 76 cm / 29.9" Dimensions without frame: H 48.5 cm / 19.1" W 63 cm / 24.8" About the Artist: After the devastation of the First World War, Lucien Génin (1894 - 1953) left his provincial home in the autumn of 1919 to find his fortune among the lively Parisians in the heart of Montmartre. Génin befriended the painters Frank Will, Gen Paul, Émile Boyer, Marcel Leprin...

Fernand Laval (1886-1966) Paris School Art Deco Period La fete des Loges 1929 A delightful post impressionist painting of a fairground scene in Loges, n...

A fine oil by Bertrand Py depicting a garden with a tree and rolling countryside at the side of a French villa. Unsigned. On canvas on stretchers.

Work on cardboard Sketch of landscape and mansion on the back of the work

French Landscape by Louise Alix, French 1950's Impressionist gouache on artist paper, unframed painting: 9.75 x 9.75 inches provenance: from a large private collection of this artis...