Frederic Cordey (1854 – 1911)
Frédéric Samuel Cordey evolves with the Impressionists, he presents four paintings with the group for the fourth Impressionist exhibition in 1877.
Pupil of Isodor Pils and Gustave Boulanger at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, he was part of the group (Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley) who rebelled against academic teaching to follow the path of Impressionism. .
The artist took part in the Salon d’Automne in 1903. He rarely exhibits and art critics are rave about him. A retrospective exhibition took place at the Galerie Choiseul in Paris in 1913. His wealth allows him to work according to his own aspirations without depending on criticism and help from merchants.
Appreciated by Gustave Caillebotte and particularly linked to Auguste Renoir, he is featured in several paintings by the artist, including the “Bal du moulin de la galette”. Attentive landscape painter, he likes to depict the surrounding nature; If the Auxerre countryside is one of the painter’s favorite places, he stays not far from Camille Pissarro in Neuville-sur-Oise as well as in Eragny-sur-Oise.
MUSEUMS
• In Paris: Madame Cordey doing tapestry , 1879, Paris, Musee d’Orsay
• In France: Dish of peaches, 1906, Museum of Fine Arts of Nevers, prefecture of Nièvre
BIBILIOGRAPHY
• Article by Adolphe Thalasso, “Exposition F.-S. Cordey”, in Art and artists, monthly review of ancient and modern art, Oct. 1913-3 Feb. 1914, p. 237
• André Roussard, Dictionary of painters in Montmartre in the 19th and 20th centuries
• Cat. of exp. Christophe Duvivier, Painters and the Oise, the painter-engravers of the Oise Valley, [exhibition “Painters and the Oise, the painter-engravers of the Oise Valley”, Pontoise, Musée Tavet- Delacour, 26 Feb. to Sept. 23, 2007], Pontoise ed. from the museum, 2007
• Sophie Monneret, Impressionism and its time, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1987
Credits:
• The Conversation (representing the painter Cordey and one of his favorite models, Marguerite Legrand, known as “Margot”) by Auguste Renoir, 1879. © Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
• Portrait of a man © Galerie Ballesteros, 2022