Charles Picart le Doux

"Belleville-Menilmontant" original etching

1937

Charles Alexandre Picart Le Doux (July 12, 1881—September 11, 1959) was a French painter, engraver, book illustrator, poet and author. He was part of the artistic milieu of Montmartre in the years before World War I, and active in the circle of Jules Romains and the Abbaye de Créteil group of artists and writers. A celebration of his work, the book Picart Le Doux, was published in 1945, and in 1950 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He was born and died in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. His son Jean Picart Le Doux (1902-1982) also became a notable artist. He studied at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly before committing to an artistic career, first taking courses at the Académie Julian under Marcel Baschet, then at the Beaux-Arts de Paris in Saint-Germain-des-Prés until 1902, when he moved to Montmartre. In his memoir Monelle de Montrmatre (1953) he wrote, Not satisfied by the teaching, practically nil, at the École des Beaux-Arts, I spent hours of pictorial incubation in the Durand-Ruel gallery. I discovered Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Pissaro. I had the revelation that painting should be "the expression of life.'' In Montmartre, Picart Le Doux frequented the Lapin Agile cabaret, where he met and became close friends with Suzanne Valadon and her son Maurice Utrillo, only two years his junior but whom Picart Le Doux recalled as "very young then, seeming to live on the margins of life." Among his wide circle of friends and colleagues in pre-World War I Montmartre were many writers and fellow artists. In his memoir, Picart Le Doux mentions Maurice Asselin, George Bottini, Charles Camoin, Ricciotto Canudo, Francis Carco, Gaston Couté, Andre Deslignières, Guus van Dongen, Roland Dorgelès, Maurice-Edme Drouard [fr], Yvonne George, Max Jacob, Pierre Mac Orlan, Albert Marquet, Henri Matisse, Alexandre Mercereau, Fernand Piet, Pablo Picasso, Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro, Maurice Princet, Paul Reboux, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, and Félix Vallotton. Picart Le Doux first exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants in 1904, and later at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon des Tuileries, and the Salon d’Automne, of which he became a member. His first one-man exhibition was at the Paris gallery of Eugéne Blot, in 1910. He also exhibited at the gallery of Charles Vildrac at 11 rue de Seine. Picart Le Doux painted self-portraits, portraits of family and notable friends, still lifes, impressionistic landscapes, and murals. He was also, for more than four decades, a prolific illustrator of books. In 2023, the auction house of Christophe Joron-Derem held an extensive auction of works by Picart Le Doux at Hôtel Drouot in Paris. More than 150 lots included paintings, watercolors, drawings, and illustrated books, with subjects ranging from landscapes, portraits and self-portraits to nudes and erotic drawings. His 1908 nude portrait of Misia Sert, set a 21st-century auction record for the artist, EUR 11,960 (including fees).