Jean Béraud
A live performer captured by the highly talented Jean Béraud. A light, lively painting of great chromatic sobriety.
Oil on panel
Signed bottom left
Dimensions: 23.5 x 14 cm
Price upon request
Jean Béraud, the painter of Parisian life during the Belle Epoque
Jean Béraud quickly became the painter of scenes from Parisian life. It mainly depicts the activities of the wealthy bourgeoisie, the main clientele of artists at the time: strolls along the boulevards, shows, cafés and restaurants.
Introduced to the haute bourgeoisie, Jean Béraud frequented the salons and fashionable shows, depicting them with a certain irony.
Impressionist in technique, his creations at the turn of the century gave greater prominence to live movement.
Béraud’s style is not strictly academic. He can draw inspiration from the Impressionists’ touch, as in our painting.
An unconventional method for an artist renowned for his academicism, but it was precisely with these works that Béraud achieved his greatest renown.
The character in his painting, an artist, singer, songstress or actress, in a long, flowing pink dress, is captured with a high spontaneity. The woman’s light silhouette stands out against a dark background in a sober, chromatic style. Subtle lighting from the stage illuminates its subject, making it seem evanescent. Like an unreal apparition, a dream.
Biography
Jean Béraud was born in St. Petersburg when his father, a sculptor, was probably working on St. Isaac’s Cathedral. After his father’s death in 1853, his mother returned to Paris with her four children.
Jean Béraud studied at the Lycée Bonaparte, then became a pupil of Léon Bonnat at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He made his debut at the 1872 Salon. In 1876, he enjoyed success with his painting The Return from the Funeral. In 1883, he produced a drawing entitled “Le Viveur” to illustrate the play “Le Rêve”.
He became one of the leading painters of Parisian life during the Belle Époque. Through a multitude of genre scenes, he paints with acuity, and sometimes irony, the french cosy upper class, small trades, the atmosphere of cafés, public meetings and scenes of everyday life on the streets of Paris. He is also the author of some 200 portraits.
In a very different register, he composed a number of paintings with religious themes, depicting Christ in spectacular contemporary settings (La Madeleine chez le Pharisien, 1891, Paris, Musée d’Orsay), or paintings with social themes of a more serious tone (Les Fous, Salon 1885, location unknown).
In 1890, he was one of the co-founders of the Société nationale des beaux-arts with, among others, Auguste Rodin, Ernest Meissonier and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. He became Vice-Chairman.
He provided cover illustrations for Le Figaro illustré between 1890 and 1896.
In 1887, he was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, then promoted to Officer of the same order in 1894.
He died on October 4, 1935 in Paris and was buried in the Montmartre cemetery.
Exhibitions
– 1889 Paris World’s Fair.
– Paris, Musée Carnavalet, 1936.
– Hommage at the Salon de la Société nationale des beaux-arts, Paris,
– Musée du Château de Vitré, “La Vie Parisienne vers 1900″, April 1978.
– Galerie Jean-François Heim, Paris, May-June 1978.
– Jean Béraud and the Paris of the Belle Époque”, September 29, 1999 to January 2, 2000, Paris, Musée Carnavalet.
Bibliography
– Bénézit dictionary.
– Édouard-Joseph, Dictionnaire biographique des artistes contemporains, tome 1, A-E, Art et Édition, 1930, p. 112.
– Patrick Offenstadt, Jean Béraud. The Belle Époque, an era of dreams. Catalog raisonné, Paris, Taschen, Wildenstein Institute, 1999.
– Gustave Schlumberger, Mes Souvenirs, memoirs edited by Adrien Blanchet, Paris, Éditions Plon, 1934.
– Gérald Schurr, Les petits maîtres de la peinture, Les éditions de l’Amateur,
– Jean Béraud: 1849-1935, Musée Carnavalet collections, Paris, Musée Carnavalet, 1978,
Museums
In Paris
– Musée d’Art moderne de Paris – Musée Carnavalet :
– Department of Graphic Arts, Musée du Louvre
– Musée des Arts décoratifs : Descent from the Cross, 1892, oil on canvas
– Musée du Louvre, Department of Graphic Arts
In France
– Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts :
– Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts
– Bourges, Musée du Berry: Portrait of Jean Baffier, drawing.
– Gray, Musée Baron-Martin :
– Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts: Meditation, 1894, oil on canvas.
– Marseille, Musée des Beaux-Arts: Au Café, oil on canvas.
– Toulouse Fondation Bemberg
– Tours, Musée des Beaux-Arts :
– Troyes, Saint-Loup Museum
United States
– New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
United Kingdom
– London, National Gallery
Source
– https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Béraud#Bibliographie
– https://ap.chroniques.it/jean-beraud/
– https://www.rivagedeboheme.fr/pages/arts/peinture-19e-siecle/jean-beraud-1849-1935.html
– https://www.pariszigzag.fr/insolite/histoire-insolite-paris/jean-beraud- le-peintre-de-la-vie-parisienne-a-la-belle-epoque
