Henry Gérard
A dazzlingly light landscape by Henry Gérard depicting a Mediterranean village facing the sea, dated 1903. A work that reflects the painter’s quest for light.
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right
Dimensions: 59.5 x 72 cm
With frame: 81.5 x 94.5 cm
Price: 2,500 euros
“Serenity bursts forth in these everyday winks, always with a beautiful balance in composition, light and color.”
Henry Gérard, an unclassifiable painter. An art made of light and joy.
An unclassifiable painter, he followed the pictorial developments of his time. His first exhibits at the Salons de l’Union Artistique de Toulouse were landscapes influenced by the Impressionists. However, when the opportunity arose to exhibit his work at the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris, he returned to a much more classical style.
Biography
Henri Paul Gérard, born in Toulouse and died in Martigues, was a French post-impressionist painter. He changed his first name slightly to Henry Gérard, with which he signed his paintings and became known in artistic circles.
After attending high school in Toulouse, he enrolled as an auditor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in his hometown.
Born into a middle-class family, his fortune allowed him to live according to his tastes. He decided to devote himself to graphic art, agreeing to follow his friends from Toulouse to Paris, including Henri Martin, Paul Gervais, Henri Rachou and François Gauzi. He meets Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, whose portrait he paints. He is a pupil of Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre.
Having completed his apprenticeship, he returned to Toulouse, where he built a studio on rue du Japon. In 1899, he and his friends held an exhibition of his work, which was much appreciated by Toulouse art lovers.
He married Étiennette Marie Laure Malidat in Toulouse on June 1, 1889. Their union did not last, and they separated in 1895. The end of the century marked a turning point in Henry Gérard’s life. The breakup of his family and the attraction of Provence to painters led him to set up his easel on the banks of the Etang de Berre, in Martigues.
In 1901, he acquired a vast property overlooking the Etang de Berre, on which he had a residence built, the Villa Khariessa, which became both his workplace and a haven for entertaining friends. In 1905, he married Joséphine Thérèse Bastin, a renowned singer. The two enjoyed an intense social life in their villa Khariessa, where Henry Gérard entertained his friends, mainly artists and society figures.
Until his death on August 12, 1925, he continued to paint the sunny, ever-changing landscapes of Martigues and Provence with charm and voluptuous sensitivity. He is buried in the Terre-Cabade cemetery in Toulouse.
Exhibitions
From 1886, Henry Gérard exhibited at the Union Artistique in Toulouse, the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris (mentioned in 1904), the Salon de la Libre Esthétique in Brussels, the Salon des Artistes Méridionaux, and the Exposition d’Art Moderne des Artistes Latins in 1921, marking his last presence in the limelight.
Three exhibitions have been dedicated to him in recent years: Martigues in 2010 and 2015 – La Côte Saint-André in 2016. The Musée de Lavaur will exhibit some of his paintings, as will the Villa Khariessa in 2017.
Museums
– Toulouse, Musée des Augustins.
– Martigues, Ziem museum
Source
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Gérard
https://www.henry-gerard.net/_files/ugd/
