Jean Puy, The Passage to Concarneau Brittany France, 1945, Oil on Canvas, Framed

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A beautiful and luminous landscape of the french port of concarneau. Exhibited in various exhibitions: galeries mady bonnard 1961, galeries … Read more A beautiful and luminous landscape of the french port of concarneau. Exhibited in various exhibitions: galeries mady bonnard 1961, galeries le griffon 1963, galerie pirra 1970. Jean puy was a fauvist painter, distinguished by his good taste and discretion. His works are, in fact, a compromise between impressionism and fauvism. Puy can be considered an independent artist, having not associated himself with other movements. After classical studies at high school, in 1895 he attended architecture courses at the academy of fine arts in lyon and took additional drawing lessons with the academic portraitist tony tollet. In 1898 he moved to paris and enrolled at the académie julian, where he studied with jean-paul laurens and benjamin-constant. Tired of these overly traditional teachings, he attended the new academy recently created by eugène carrière, where he met, among others, the future "fauves": matisse, derain, camoin, and manguin. Carrière encouraged his students to draw freely and pushed them resolutely toward modern art. Since discovering the breton villages of pouldu, bénodet, and st-guénolé in 1899, puy felt a strong attachment to these lands and decided to spend much of the summer between roanne and northwest france. He returned to paris only in the winter, where he painted in his studio. His enthusiasm for brittany was linked above all to his passion for the sea. He bought a boat and, with the help of his friend paul signac, learned to sail. He traveled from port to port along the coast and, painting from aboard, was better able to capture the vitality of the picturesque villages. He sometimes took his models anita, ginette, and dédée with him. While belle-île, thanks to its wild coastline, inspired him more than any other place to paint, concarneau and bénodet were the ports to which he returned regularly. Jean puy, independent by nature, chose places less frequented by other painters. At belle-ile, for example, he slipped into the apothecary's cave, and at concarneau he painted in the ville-close, a secluded and solitary place, ideal for his intimate painting. Unlike most of his fauve friends, enamoured of the mediterranean light, puy preferred "the diffused light of the ocean," enthralling himself with the nuances of the breton atmosphere. He himself recounted: "i have gone to the midi a few times in winter, but i have never found the rhythm i loved in brittany: temperate landscapes with highly modulated colors, few yellows or oranges, and, in addition to many beautiful days, some days of drizzle with dim light, a dreamlike light. This is what i like, along with the variety of landscapes and a grandiose sea, tragic at times, but so captivating." in 1901, he exhibited with marquet and matisse at the salon des indépendants; manguin joined the group the following year, and camoin in 1903. The years 1902-1903 were jean puy's most vividly colored period; it can indeed be described as a "pre-fauve" style. At the 1904 salon, the group was complete, with the addition of dufy and friesz. At the 1905 salon d'automne, which saw the birth of fauvism, these artists exhibited together again, and two new artists were present: vlaminck and derain. In the winter of 1904-1905, puy had worked extensively with matisse in manguin's studio, and it was through manguin that he met the art dealer ambroise vollard, who purchased much of his work from 1905 to 1922. Between 1905 and 1910, vollard also convinced him to decorate around a hundred ceramics by andré metthey and introduced him to the technique of engraving. In 1919, he entrusted him with the illustration of père ubu à la guerre, and in 1924, le pot de fleurs de la mère ubu and le déjeuner de l’evêque. His painting was greatly appreciated by the great art critics apollinaire, duret, arsène alexandre, and tristan klingsor, who praised him and supported him with their writings. In 1910, apollinaire stated: “puy is making great progress. His seascapes are as transparent as the most beautiful days, and his nude woman with thick hair has the slenderness and boldness of a venetian courtesan who would have loved casanova…” during his call-up to the army in 1915-16, puy met villon, dunoyer, and segonzac. The artist always alternated between studio work and plein air painting. Although he was a fauvist painter (albeit only briefly, from 1905 to 1908 ca.), he distinguished himself from them by his good taste and discretion. His works are, in fact, a compromise between impressionism and fauvism. Puy can be considered an independent artist, having not associated himself with other movements. In 1920, he met the carrions, a couple who owned a splendid house on belle-ile; he was often invited to spend long periods there, so much so that one of their rooms was used as a studio. Between 1912 and 1938, he regularly participated in group exhibitions at the galerie druet and from 1907 to 1927 at the galerie bernheim-jeune. Nine of his works were included in the exhibition of masters of independent art at the petit palais in paris during the 1937 international exhibition. During the interwar period, he lived in paris and, around 1939, fearing the bombings of the capital, he retreated to his hometown. In 1939, he decorated the salon d'honneur of the lycée du parc in lyon with the fresco the encounter between ulysses and nausicaa. After returning to roanne, he voluntarily reduced the promotion of his work nationally and his exhibitions in paris to devote himself more to the cultural life of his region, where he became an important figure. The evolution of puy's painting was marked by the historical events that marked his life. For him, the world wars were two irreparable ruptures that upended his vision of the world. It is perhaps for these reasons that, after the fervor and exuberance of the fauvist years, he evolved towards an intimate, more sober and measured style of painting. After his death, many of his works were requested for important exhibitions and numerous anthologies were dedicated to him. Among the most recent are: geneva, petit palais « jean puy, le maitre de roanne » (1994); morlaix, musée des jacobins « un fauve en bretagne, jean puy » (1995) ; roanne, musée joseph déchelette « jean puy, l’après midi d’un fauve » (2001). Museums where his works are preserved: albi (musée toulouse-lautrec); bagnols-sur-céze (musée léon alègre); besançon (musée des beaux arts); bourg-en-bresse; cateau-cambresis (musée matisse); grenoble (musée des beaux arts); lyon (musée des beaux arts); montbélliard (musée du château); montpellier; mulhouse; nantes; paris (musée d'art moderne de la ville, musée du petit palais); poitiers; reims (musée saint denis); roanne (musée j. Déchelette); rouen (musée des beaux arts); saint etienne (musée d'art et d'industrie); saint quentin; saint-tropez (musée de l'annonciade); troyes (musée d'art moderne); winterthur, germany; algiers, algeria; geneva (mod. Art foundation o. Ghez, musée du petit palais), zurich -switzerland; moscow, soviet union. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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