Gaston de Latenay

Navsikaa

1899

Gaston de Latenay was born in 1859 in Toulouse, France. Though essentially self-taught, he did study at the Académie Julian in Paris. During his long and successful career, de Latenay stood apart from all movements and schools of artistic thought to develop his poetic vision of nature. He combined Japanese influences with lyricism. Many Impressionist artists were influenced by his remarkable studies of light-effects. This element is evident in his early original etchings and marine compositions. Gaston de Latenay’s art won awards at the World’s Fair of 1886, 1889 and 1900. By this time his etchings were published by the influential Paris publisher, Edmond Sagot. de Latenay was a full-time member of both the Société des Artistes Français and the Société d'aquarellistes Français. Many of his fine landscapes and coastal views depicted scenes in Brittany, Artois and Belgium. One contemporary scholar wrote of his fine etchings, “He is a master in expressing the melancholy aspect of a beautiful park on a golden autumn evening when the red leaves drop into the calm waters of the Bassin which reflect pale moonbeams filtering through dark trees."