Leighton Fine Art Ltd

Signed and dated oil on original canvas by French post impressionist painter Paul Madeline. This beautiful work depicts a mill on the bank of a river - water cascading over the rocks...

Beautiful signed oil on board landscape circa 1920 by sought after post impressionist painter Victor Charreton. The piece depicts a figure walking through green rolling fields with h...

Signed and dated impressionist landscape oil on canvas by French painter Jean Baptiste Armand Guillaumin. This simply stunning piece de...

Signed and titled oil on canvas by French cubist painter Camile Hilaire. The piece beautifully depicts a man at a port beside boats coloured in reds, blues and oranges. A wonderfully...

Signed nude oil on original canvas circa 1910 by French post impressionist painter Georges D'espagnat. The work depict a nude woman seated on a stall turned away from the artist. Paintings hang on the wall and there's a vase filled with pink and red flowers on the wooden mantlepiece beside her. Signature: Signed upper left Dimensions: Framed: 30"x26" Unframed: 22"x18" Provenance: Private French collection. Exhibition stamp verso From the beginning of his career, it was a constant concern of Georges d'Espagnet to assert his originality. His studies at the École des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, did not last very long, for he wanted immediate independence and decided to follow courses in the private academies of Montparnasse. In about 1900, he became acquainted with Maurice Denis, Bonnard and Vuillard, and his collaboration with Denis led to a renewal of religious art in France. In 1903, d'Espagnet was one of the founders of the Salon d'Automne, and was appointed professor in charge of studios at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1934. He illustrated a number of books: Rémy de Gourmont's Evil Prayers ( Oraisons mauvaises) (1896), The Saints of Paradise ( Les Saintes du paradis) (1898), Simone (1907), Sistine ( Sixtine) (1922); Alphonse Daudet's The Immortal ( L'Immortel) (1930); André Gide's The Pastoral Symphony ( La Symphonie pastorale); Francis Jammes' Clearings in the Sky ( Chairières dans le ciel) (1948). D'Espagnet belongs to the group of artists who made the Courrier Français so successful. The drawings of his which are published in it are strongly expressive and some bear comparison with the designs of the great Renaissance masters. He also contributed to L'Image. He often placed cheerful nudes in a landscape, reminding us that, though he moved away from the Fauves, he retained their freedom of colour and arabesque. He painted many portraits, including those of Albert André, André Barbier...

Wonderful signed oil on panel cattle and figures in landscape by French impressionist painter Jean-Francois Raffaelli. The work depicts oxen being loaded onto ships in Honfleur, France en route to England. Signature: Signed lower right Dimensions: Framed: 18"x16" Unframed: 9"x8" Provenance: Exhibition Jean Francois Raffaélli held at Galerie Simonson, 19 Rue Caumartin Paris - October 1929 (number 44) Jean-François Raffaëlli's father was a failed Italian businessman and Raffaëlli himself was, among other things, a church chorister, actor and theatre singer. He then studied under Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He travelled to Italy, Spain and Algeria and on his return to France settled in Asnières. In 1876, on a trip to Brittany, he first saw the potential of realist subject matter, if treated seriously. He became involved in meetings of artists at the Café Guerbois, where the Impressionist painters used to gather. As a result, Degas, contrary to the advice of the group, introduced Raffaëlli to the Impressionist exhibitions - according to one uncertain source as early as the very first exhibition, at the home of Nadar, and certainly to those of 1880 and 1881. In 1904, Raffaëlli founded the Society for Original Colour Engraving. He first exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1870 and continued to exhibit there until he joined the Salon des Artistes Français in 1881, where he earned a commendation in 1885, was made Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1889 and in the same year was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle. In 1906 he was made Officier of the Légion d'Honneur. He was also a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1884, a private exhibition of his work cemented his reputation. He contributed to several newspapers such as The Black Cat (Le Chat Noir) in 1885 and The French Mail (Le Courrier Français) in 1886 and 1887. He published a collection entitled Parisian Characters, which captured his favourite themes of the street, the neighbourhood and local people going about their lives. In 1880 he participated, with Forain, on the illustration of Joris Karl Huysmans' Parisian Sketches (Croquis Parisiens). He also illustrated Huysman's Works. As well as working as an illustrator, he also made etchings and coloured dry-points. His early attempts at painting were genre scenes, but once he was settled in Asnières he started to paint picturesque views of Parisian suburbs. From 1879 onwards, his subject matter drew on the lives of local people. These popular themes, which he treated with humanity and a social conscience, brought him to the attention of the social realist writers of the time such as Émile Zola. In addition to his realist style, Raffaëlli's dark palette, which ran contrary to the Impressionist aesthethic, helped to explain the opposition of those painters to his participation in their exhibitions. More concerned with drawing than colour, he used black and white for most of his paintings. Towards the end of his life, he lightened his palette, but without adopting any other principles of the Impressionist technique. After painting several portraits, including Edmond de Goncourt and Georges Clémenceau, he returned to genre painting, particularly scenes of bourgeois life. Later in his career, he painted mainly Breton-inspired sailors and views of Venice. His views of the Paris slums and the fortifications, sites which have almost completely disappeared, went some way towards establishing a genre in themselves and perpetuated the memory of the area: The Slums, Rag-and-Bone Man, Vagabond, Sandpit, In St-Denis, Area of Fortifications. His realistic and witty portrayal of typical Parisian townscapes accounts for his enduring appeal. Born in Paris, he was of Tuscan descent through his paternal grandparents. He showed an interest in music and theatre before becoming a painter in 1870. One of his landscape paintings was accepted for exhibition at the Salon in that same year. In October 1871 he began three months of study under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris; he had no other formal training. Raffaëlli produced primarily costume pictures until 1876, when he began to depict the people of his time—particularly peasants, workers, and ragpickers seen in the suburbs of Paris—in a realistic style. His new work was championed by influential critics such as J.-K. Huysmans, as well as by Edgar Degas. The ragpicker became for Raffaëlli a symbol of the alienation of the individual in modern society. Art historian Barbara S. Fields has written of Raffaëlli's interest in the positivist philosophy of Hippolyte-Adolphe Taine, which led him to articulate a theory of realism that he christened caractérisme. He hoped to set himself apart from those unthinking, so-called realist artists whose art provided the viewer with only a literal depiction of nature. His careful observation of man in his milieu paralleled the anti-aesthetic, anti-romantic approach of the literary Naturalists, such as Zola and Huysmans. Degas invited Raffaëlli to participate in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1880 and 1881, an action that bitterly divided the group; not only was Raffaëlli not an Impressionist, but he threatened to dominate the 1880 exhibition with his outsized display of 37 works. Monet, resentful of Degas's insistence on expanding the Impressionist exhibitions by including several realists, chose not to exhibit, complaining, "The little chapel has become a commonplace school which opens its doors to the first dauber to come along."An example of Raffaëlli's work from this period is Les buveurs d'absinthe (1881, in the California Palace of Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco). Originally titled Les déclassés, the painting was widely praised at the 1881 exhibit. After winning the Légion d'honneur in 1889, Raffaëlli shifted his attention from the suburbs of Paris to city itself, and the street scenes that resulted were well received by the public and the critics. He made a number of sculptures, but these are known today only through photographs.[2] His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. In the later years of his life, he concentrated on color printmaking. Raffaëlli died in Paris on February 11, 1924 Museum and Gallery Holdings: Béziers: Peasants Going to Town Bordeaux: Bohemians at a Café Boston: Notre-Dame; Return from the Market Brussels: Chevet of Notre-Dame; pastel Bucharest (Muz. National de Arta al României): Market at Antibes; Pied-à-terre Copenhagen: Fishermen on the Beach Douai: Return from the Market; Blacksmiths Liège: Absinthe Drinker...

Fauvist signed oil on canvas riverscape circa 1920 by French post impressionist painter Robert Antoine Pinchon. The work depicts a view of the R...

Stunning pointillist landscape oil on panel by French neo-impressionist painter Achille Lauge. The work depicts a path leading to the small village of Belveze du Razes in the South of France on a bright spring day. To the left are white blossom trees in bloom and the houses of the village can be seen in the distance. Signature: Signed and dated 1909 lower left Dimensions: Framed: 28"x36" Unframed: 21"x29" Provenance: We kindly thank Mme. Nicole Tamburini for allowing us to state that the work is included in the Catalogue Raisonne of the artist which she is currently preparing. A certificate of authenticity from Mme. Tamburini is available upon request. Achille Laugé...

Impressionist oil on canvas seascape painting circa 1895 by French artist Maxime Maufra. This stunning work depicts a sailing boat on a vast ocean. The choppy water is painted in greens and blues. The white clouds rolling across the blue sky are beautifully shaded in purple tones. Signature: Signed lower left and titled on original label verso Dimensions: Framed: 22"x25" Unframed: 15"x18" Provenance: This work is included in the catalogue raisonne of Maxime Maufra under reference 284 Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired directly from the artist on 5 April 1895) Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York (acquired from the above in 1895) Marlborough Fine Arts, Ltd., London (acquired after 1949) Dr. Renate Davis, London (acquired from the above) Lyon & Turnbull London, 28 November 2013, lot 111 (consigned by the above) Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above sale) Sotheby's New York, 15 November 2017, lot 101 (consigned by the above) Maufra spent several years in England, notably in Liverpool, with his father, who wanted him to become a tradesman. He decided to take up painting instead and returned to France in 1883, attracting the attention of Octave Mirbeau in his very first exhibition, and subsequently being noticed by Frantz Jourdain in 1894 and Fontenais in 1901. In 1886, he successfully exhibited two seascapes at the Salon, following which he visited Brittany in 1890, making the acquaintance of Gauguin and Sérusier in Pont-Aven; he collaborated with them on the decoration of the Pouldu Inn in 1894. He maintained his acquaintance with the Nabis group artists Henry Moret and Gustave Loiseau. He travelled in l'Isère, Belgium, and Algeria (1913), as well as Paris, the Ile de France, Brittany and Normandy. From 1895, the Galerie Durand-Ruel assured the success of his work. Maufra settled in Montmartre for about ten years during which he painted the old quarters of Paris, often around the church of St Séverin. He then turned to Brittany and Normandy for inspiration in keeping with a resolve to paint only from nature, his seascapes in particular finding favour. The influence of the Nabis on his work remains limited except in the 'synthetic' organisation of the composition. He was an admirer of Sisley and Pissarro, whose influence can be seen in his paintings. Maufra, like Valtat, went to some extent beyond Impressionism to become a forerunner of Fauvism in his use of colour. An important retrospective exhibition of Maufra's work, prefaced by René Domergue, was organised in Paris around 1950. In 2001, his work was represented in the exhibition Painters and the Sarthe Region ( Les Peintres et la Sarthe) held at the Musée de la Reine Bérengère (for the 19th century) and the Abbaye de l'Épau (for the 20th century) at Le Mans. In 2003, his work appeared in the group exhibition Brittany, Land of Painters ( Bretagne, Terre des Peintres) at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Vannes. Museum and Gallery Holdings: Bergues: Seascapes Boston: Dusk in Douarnenez; Departure of Fishing Boats Buffalo: Transport Quittant Le Havre Chicago: Douarnenez the Town of Light Cholet: Flood Cincinnati (AM): The Coast, Bay of Douarnenez (Vue de Douarnenez) (painting) Helsinki: St-Guénolé Le Havre: Moonrise in Brittany Manchester: Springtime in Lavardin Montpellier: Hills of Morgat Mulhouse: Low Tide Nantes (MBA): La Prairie d'Amont (1888, oil on canvas); Pointe du Raz; Heavy Swell; The Loir Dam in Poncé (oil on canvas) Paris (Mus. d'Orsay): Brittany Landscape...

Stunning signed post impressionist oil on panel circa 1920 by French painter Emile Octave Denis Victor Guillonnet. The work depicts a summer garden filled with vibrant flowers in reds, pinks, yellows and whites, with green lawn and trees beyond. Signature: Signed lower left Dimensions: Framed: 28"x32" Unframed: 20"x24" Provenance: Private US collection Émile Guillonnet was a student of Lionel...

Stunning signed oil on canvas landscape circa 1950 by French cubist painter Camile Hilaire. The piece beautifully depicts trees reflecting in the water of a river. The painting is pa...

Landscape oil on panel circa 1890 by French Post Impressionist painter Louis Hayet. The cityscape depicts elegant figures and horses and carts in Les Grands Boulevards in Paris, France. Signature: Signed lower right and titled verso Dimensions: Framed: 12.25"x15.5" Provenance: The collection of Andre Metthey...

Impressionist garden landscape oil on panel painting circa 1902 by French painter Marie Duhem. The work depicts a white ornate planter in the centre of ...

Wonderful figures in night landscape oil on canvas circa 1904 by French impressionist painter and illustrator Andre Devambez. The piece depicts demonstr...

Wonderful oil on panel circa 1920 by French impressionist painter Andre Devambez. The work depicts a soldier leading his horse along a dirt track during...

Large signed landscape oil on canvas circa 1920 by sought after French post impressionist painter Victor Charreton, who was known as the painter of colours. The work depicts a woman walking through a snowy village in winter. The piece is beautifully coloured. Signature: Signed lower right Dimensions: Framed: 33"x38" Unframed: 24"x29" Provenance: Private collection - Portugal Ader - Paris Charreton was a landscape artist in the Lyons tradition with a love of sensual impasto. In his works he seeks to capture fleeting, momentary effects, like those achieved by the Impressionists: effects at different times of day and in different seasons, such as dusk and snow. As a young man he painted the environs of Bourgoin. Skilled in capturing minute changes in the weather, he was also adept at capturing the spirit of new places. Beside his native Dauphiné and his adopted Auvergne, he was also charmed by the landscapes of the Île-de-France and Paris - Montmartre, the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Parc Montsouris...

A beautiful oil on canvas by French impressionist painter Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemet. The piece depicts a view of a man fishing in a stream by t...

Signed figures in a landscape oil on canvas circa 1870 by French impressionist painter Victor Alfred Paul Vignon. The work depicts a woman carrying a basket with a young child beside her walking along a snowy path in a Fontainebleau Forest. This early work by Vignon was painted whilst he was under the tutelage of Camille Corot in the period between 1869 and 1870 . The work shows a mother and child in the forest at Fontainebleau in winter. Many painters in Vignon's circle such as Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Bazille visited this area to paint in the late 1860's and the early 1870's. Signature: Signed lower left Dimensions: Framed: 23"x25.5" Unframed: 13.5"x16" Provenance: Galerie Commeter - Hamburg c. 1920 French exhibition customs stamps verso His mother has been incorrectly identified as the writer Claude Vignon...

Signed figures in interior oil on panel by French impressionist painter Jean-Francois Raffaelli. The piece depicts two old men seated in an interior. One is reading his paper as the other naps and there are several kittens on the floor. Painted in the artist's distinctive style. Signature: Signed lower left Dimensions: Framed: 9.5"x8" Unframed: 5.5"x4" Provenance: Brame & Lorenceau have confirmed the authenticity of this work and it will be included in the digital catalogue raisonne of the painter which is under preparation A certificate of authenticity fromBrame & Lorenceau accompanies this painting Private collection - United States Original artists label verso Jean-François Raffaëlli's father was a failed Italian businessman and Raffaëlli himself was, among other things, a church chorister, actor and theatre singer. He then studied under Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He travelled to Italy, Spain and Algeria and on his return to France settled in Asnières. In 1876, on a trip to Brittany, he first saw the potential of realist subject matter, if treated seriously. He became involved in meetings of artists at the Café Guerbois, where the Impressionist painters used to gather. As a result, Degas, contrary to the advice of the group, introduced Raffaëlli to the Impressionist exhibitions - according to one uncertain source as early as the very first exhibition, at the home of Nadar, and certainly to those of 1880 and 1881. In 1904, Raffaëlli founded the Society for Original Colour Engraving. He first exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1870 and continued to exhibit there until he joined the Salon des Artistes Français in 1881, where he earned a commendation in 1885, was made Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1889 and in the same year was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle. In 1906 he was made Officier of the Légion d'Honneur. He was also a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1884, a private exhibition of his work cemented his reputation. He contributed to several newspapers such as The Black Cat (Le Chat Noir) in 1885 and The French Mail (Le Courrier Français) in 1886 and 1887. He published a collection entitled Parisian Characters, which captured his favourite themes of the street, the neighbourhood and local people going about their lives. In 1880 he participated, with Forain, on the illustration of Joris Karl Huysmans' Parisian Sketches (Croquis Parisiens). He also illustrated Huysman's Works. As well as working as an illustrator, he also made etchings and coloured dry-points. His early attempts at painting were genre scenes, but once he was settled in Asnières he started to paint picturesque views of Parisian suburbs. From 1879 onwards, his subject matter drew on the lives of local people. These popular themes, which he treated with humanity and a social conscience, brought him to the attention of the social realist writers of the time such as Émile Zola. In addition to his realist style, Raffaëlli's dark palette, which ran contrary to the Impressionist aesthethic, helped to explain the opposition of those painters to his participation in their exhibitions. More concerned with drawing than colour, he used black and white for most of his paintings. Towards the end of his life, he lightened his palette, but without adopting any other principles of the Impressionist technique. After painting several portraits, including Edmond de Goncourt and Georges Clémenceau, he returned to genre painting, particularly scenes of bourgeois life. Later in his career, he painted mainly Breton-inspired sailors and views of Venice. His views of the Paris slums and the fortifications, sites which have almost completely disappeared, went some way towards establishing a genre in themselves and perpetuated the memory of the area: The Slums, Rag-and-Bone Man, Vagabond, Sandpit, In St-Denis, Area of Fortifications. His realistic and witty portrayal of typical Parisian townscapes accounts for his enduring appeal. Born in Paris, he was of Tuscan descent through his paternal grandparents. He showed an interest in music and theatre before becoming a painter in 1870. One of his landscape paintings was accepted for exhibition at the Salon in that same year. In October 1871 he began three months of study under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris; he had no other formal training. Raffaëlli produced primarily costume pictures until 1876, when he began to depict the people of his time—particularly peasants, workers, and ragpickers seen in the suburbs of Paris—in a realistic style. His new work was championed by influential critics such as J.-K. Huysmans, as well as by Edgar Degas. The ragpicker became for Raffaëlli a symbol of the alienation of the individual in modern society. Art historian Barbara S. Fields has written of Raffaëlli's interest in the positivist philosophy of Hippolyte-Adolphe Taine, which led him to articulate a theory of realism that he christened caractérisme. He hoped to set himself apart from those unthinking, so-called realist artists whose art provided the viewer with only a literal depiction of nature. His careful observation of man in his milieu paralleled the anti-aesthetic, anti-romantic approach of the literary Naturalists, such as Zola and Huysmans. Degas invited Raffaëlli to participate in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1880 and 1881, an action that bitterly divided the group; not only was Raffaëlli not an Impressionist, but he threatened to dominate the 1880 exhibition with his outsized display of 37 works. Monet, resentful of Degas's insistence on expanding the Impressionist exhibitions by including several realists, chose not to exhibit, complaining, "The little chapel has become a commonplace school which opens its doors to the first dauber to come along."An example of Raffaëlli's work from this period is Les buveurs d'absinthe (1881, in the California Palace of Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco). Originally titled Les déclassés, the painting was widely praised at the 1881 exhibit. After winning the Légion d'honneur in 1889, Raffaëlli shifted his attention from the suburbs of Paris to city itself, and the street scenes that resulted were well received by the public and the critics. He made a number of sculptures, but these are known today only through photographs.[2] His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. In the later years of his life, he concentrated on color printmaking. Raffaëlli died in Paris on February 11, 1924 Museum and Gallery Holdings: Béziers: Peasants Going to Town Bordeaux: Bohemians at a Café Boston: Notre-Dame; Return from the Market Brussels: Chevet of Notre-Dame; pastel Bucharest (Muz. National de Arta al României): Market at Antibes; Pied-à-terre Copenhagen: Fishermen on the Beach Douai: Return from the Market; Blacksmiths Liège: Absinthe Drinker...

A wonderful oil on paper laid on canvas circa 1905 by French neo-impressionist painter Theo Van Rysselberghe depicting a climbing rose - the pink of the flowers contrasting against the green and yellow of the leaves. Signature: Signed lower right Dimensions: Framed: 23"x23" Unframed: 17"x17" Provenance: This work is included in the Catalogue Raisonne of Theo van Rysselberghe by Ronald Feltkamp under the reference P-032 Sotheby's, New York, November 5, 1969, lot 83 Christie's, Amsterdam, June 9, 2004, lot 87, Lancz Gallery, Brussels, Private collection, United Kingdom Exhibition: Le Lavandou...

A stunning oil on canvas urban landscape by sought after French post-impressionist painter Jacques Martin-Ferrieres. The piece depicts a very rare view of the Manhattan skyline - pai...

A wonderful oil on canvas circa 1908 by French post impressionist painter Henri Liénard de Saint-Délis depicting a boat docked at the harbour in the harb...

A charming oil on board circa 1910 by sought after Post-Impressionist painter Victor Charreton. Charreton was said to be the painter of colours and this piece, which depicts an allot...

Signed and dated figures in seascape oil on panel by Belgian impressionist painter Alfred Emile Leopold Stevens. The work depicts an elega...

An exceptional oil on canvas circa 1910 by French Impressionist painter Pierre Eugène Montezin depicting figures and a horse & cart on a bridge over the river. Beautifully painted an...

THIS WORK IS CURRENTLY ON LOAN TO THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IN LE HAVRE AND IS BEING EXHIBITED IN THEIR ELECTRIC NIGHTS EXHIBITION 2020 A stunning oil on original canvas by Achile-Emile Othon Friesz depicting a night time view of the Pont Neuf bridge over the Seine, Paris. The painting shows deep blues and reds - richer than those of traditional impressionist paintings - and shows the transition into Fauvism. Signed and dated 1903 lower right. Framed dimensions are 24.5 inches high by 20 inches wide. Achille Friesz was the son of a family of sailors from Le Havre. From 1885 he often spent time in Marseilles visiting his maternal uncles. As a child he dreamed of going to sea, but from the age of 12 he developed a passion for art, and after secondary school he attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre. There, from 1896 to 1898, he studied under Charles-Marie Lhullier who had been a friend of Jongkind and whom, like Dufy and Braque, he remembered fondly throughout his life. Lhullier introduced his students to the work of Chardin, Corot, Géricault and Delacroix. After receiving a bursary from the local authorities in 1898, he went to Paris and, while his friends Matisse, Rouault and Marquet studied under Gustave Moreau, enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts at the studio of Léon Bonnat, where he was joined by Dufy. However, he scarcely attended the studio, preferring to go to the Louvre and make copies of the works of Clouet, Veronese, Rubens, Claude Lorraine and Delacroix. He did his military service in Paris in 1902 but continued with his art. Around this time he met Camille Pissarro and sought his advice. As a young man he began to make frequent trips away, not necessarily travelling very far, but looking for subjects for his work, usually landscapes. Among the places he visited were the Creuse region around 1903, Antwerp in 1905, returning there with Braque in 1906, and La Ciotat, Cassis and L'Estaque in 1906-1907, again in the company of Braque. In Paris he frequently moved lodgings until 1914. He moved in with Henri Matisse at the Couvent des Oiseaux from 1905-1910, that is to say at the period when Fauvism was at its height. In 1908 he returned to his native Normandy to reimmerse himself in his early environment; he would return to the region throughout his life. He made a trip to Munich with Dufy in 1909, and visited Portugal in 1911-1912 and Belgium in 1912. In 1914 he was called up and assigned to technical services, not being demobilised until March 1919, although he did manage to maintain a certain independence. From 1914 until his death he lived in Paris at 73 Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, where he occupied Bouguereau's old studio. He made frequent trips to Cap-Brun near Toulon where, in 1923, he acquired a property called Les Jarres, as well as making numerous visits to Normandy and Le Havre. In 1925 he received the highest commendation at the Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh for Portrait of the Decorative Artist Paul Paquereau. Also in 1925, at the same time as Matisse, he was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, rising to in Officier in 1933 and Commandeur in 1937. He was also made Commander of the Swedish order of Vasa in 1934. Throughout his life, Friesz was a teacher: from 1913 at the Académie Moderne; from 1929 at the Académie Scandinave; and from 1941 until his death at the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière. Alongside his activity as a painter, he illustrated several works of literature, including: in 1920 Le Pacte de l'Écolier Juan by Jules Tellier; in 1924 Échelles de Soie by Jean Pédron; in 1926 Le Jardin sur l'Oronte by Maurice Barrès; in 1926 En Suivant la Seine by Gustave Coquiot; in 1929 Rouen by André Maurois; in 1931 The Song of Songs; in 1934 Poésies by Pierre de Ronsard; in 1945 Le Bouquet de la Mariée by Gabriel-Joseph Gros; in 1947 Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de St-Pierre; in 1949 Le Livre de Job by Pierre Poussard; in 1949 Petronius's Satyricon, and in 1949 a collection of 12 unpublished lithographs for Le Désert de l'Amour by François Mauriac. He also designed several pieces of decorative art: from 1906 to 1909 ceramics executed by Metthey among others; a façade for a private house in Le Havre; a china service for two for the Le Havre writer J.-G. Aubry; vases, dishes and plates; in 1912 four sets for La Lumière by Georges Duhamel, performed at the Odéon; in 1916 a screen for the Le Havre collector Léon Pédron; in 1918 panels for Pédron's dining room; in 1920 a mural entitled Children Dancing (Enfants Dansant); in 1920 Les Volières for the apartment of Vicomte Amédée de Flers; in 1935 Peace (La Paix), a Gobelins tapestry presented by France to the Palais des Nations in Geneva; in 1937 La Seine in collaboration with Dufy for the Palais de Chaillot, with each artist taking half of the river's course - From the Source to Paris by Friesz and From Paris to the Estuary by Dufy. The Fauves were producing Fauve paintings before they knew it: it was not until the critic Louis Vauxcelles saw their work at the Salon des Indépendants in 1905 and mockingly used the word Fauve to describe it that the term was born. It is known that Vlaminck and Derain worked together and that the École de Chatou was composed of just these two artists. Friesz was living with Matisse and after his first trip to Antwerp in 1905, he returned in 1906 with Braque. In 1906-1907 Friesz and Braque went to La Ciotat to paint and there they met up with Matisse. The paintings Friesz produced in Antwerp are Fauve inasmuch as they are painted in pure colours and are more or less free of the divisionism of the Impressionists, although the draughtsmanship is fairly standard; these works include The Port, The Escaut, The Canals, The Dock with Sailing Ships and The Red Slipway. Those of Braque the following year, in particular Terrace on the Escaut, show great similarities with those Friesz painted of the same subject. Friesz was already avoiding the hardness of pure flat tints by graduating them in thin glazes, allowing the whiteness of the canvas to penetrate the transparency, a technique that came to characterise his entire Fauve period. At La Ciotat Friesz and Braque adopted completely different Fauve styles, with Braque composing his paintings on horizontal and vertical orthogonals painted in small, regular, spaced-out touches, whereas Friesz developed his own personal rhythmical style of wide arabesques of colour in works such as The Bec-de-l'Aigle, Women Bathing and L'Estaque. Many of Friesz's Fauve works were produced in the south of France, and his Portrait of Fernand Fleuret also dates from this period. When he returned to Normandy in 1908 the period that he described as his 'return to form' began; with compromise paintings such as Entrance to the Port of Honfleur, Côte de Grâce Landscape, The 'Bains Marie-Christine' in Le Havre and the great compositions characteristic of this period - Autumn Labours, Spring, Fisherman on a Rock and Women Bathing. His draughtsmanship retains something of the rhythm of the Fauve period, his figures following the lines of the landscape and the colour remaining clear and resonant. In 1909 he painted the Cirque Médrano series: The Trapeze Artist, The Clown and The Horsewoman. In the south of France he also painted the Olive Trees series. He made a trip to Munich with Raoul Dufy resulting in Winter in Munich. This was also the year of his first trip to Italy. Boat in a Rocky Inlet of 1910 marks one of the pivotal points between a totally rhythmic drawing style of sensual curves typical of his Fauve period and a reduced palette of muted ochres, browns and blues. From 1910 onwards, the final traces of Fauvism become less and less apparent in his work. His use of colour follows the same course, towards the transcription of reality, with broken tones, ochres and browns. After his demobilisation, as well as in his studio in Paris, Friesz spent time in his house in Toulon, returned to Normandy and Le Havre and continued to make frequent, often local, forays in search of new subjects: in 1919 to Jura, producing the series Forests, Pine Trees, Road in the Snow and Invitation to Skate; in 1920 to Italy producing Piedmont Village, Florence Grape Pickers; in 1920 to Le Havre, producing The Étretat Cliffs, People Bathing at Étretat; in 1923 to his house in Toulon, producing View of Coudon, Women Bathing, Grape Harvesting, Jars; in 1924 he painted the Large Nude (which he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne the same year) and landscapes of Toulon; in 1928 he made a trip to Algiers, producing The Algiers Kasbah and its Phantoms; in 1931 to Annecy, producing Women Bathers by a Lake; in 1934-1935 to Dinan and St-Malo producing The Great Dinan Viaduct, The Dock with the Terre-Neuvas, After Bathing; in 1936 to Honfleur; in 1941-1944, remaining in Paris because of the war, he painted mainly still-lifes, including Studio Corner, Earthenware. In 1946 he returned to Honfleur; and in 1947 to La Rochelle producing The Port Tower, Tuna Boats, The Red Sail. Numerically Friesz's work is dominated by landscapes but it should be remembered that throughout his career he tackled more ambitious compositions and appeared to do so with great ease. These include Boat in a Rocky Inlet of 1910 with its frolicking women bathers, Allegory of War of 1915 executed in 24 hours, Invitation to Skate of 1919, numerous paintings of Women Bathing over several periods and much later Women beside a Pond of 1944, which clearly demonstrates his attachment to Cézanne. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1901 to 1903 and then at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants. From 1906 he exhibited annually at the Salon d'Automne, of which he later became a committee and jury member. In 1923 he took part in the founding of the Salon des Tuileries and became head of two of the Salon's sections. His work has been exhibited at countless group exhibitions all over the world. Among the most recent thematic exhibitions is Fauvism in Black and White. From Gauguin to Vlaminck, Fauvist Engraving and its Setting (Le Fauvisme en Noir et Blanc. De Gauguin à Vlaminck, l'Estampe des Fauves et son Environnement) at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Villeneuve d'Ascq in 2001. He also showed his work in numerous solo exhibitions in Paris: his first in 1904 at the Galerie des Collectionneurs and another the same year at the Société des Peintres du Paris Moderne...

A wonderful oil on canvas by Louis Hayet depicting figures in a cityscape at evening time. Signed and dated 1932 lower left. Louis Hayet had a difficult and itinerant childhood, due to the instability of his father, an amateur artist. He began to draw and produce watercolours from the age of 12. By the age of 20 he produced works with great skill, as demonstrated by his pen drawing Boulevard, Evening, Paris. He made a living in Paris doing various jobs more or less to do with painting. He associated with Camille and Lucien Pissaro...