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Video: The sentimental realism of Leon Basil Perrot - an out-of-fashion artist whose paintings have been exhibited at the Paris Salon for almost half a century
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
French artist Leon Basile Perrot(Leon Bazil Perrault), who created his masterpieces at the end of the 19th century in the academic manner of the 18th century, was in demand and popular in Europe and the USA, despite the rapid development of new fashion trends in art. His canvases have been permanent exhibits at the prestigious exhibition of the Paris Salon for 42 years and are still in great demand at auction.
An amazing master who worked in the academic direction, became famous for portraits on the theme of motherhood and childhood, although the artist was fond of battle and religious themes, decorative paintings.
Contemporaries believed that the addiction to the children's theme took its origins in a sentimental love for their own babies. Perrault was an excellent family man and a loving father of six children who served as "models" for angels and always, being close to their father, inspired him to create touching pictures.
Two boys and four girls were the subject of adoration and tender parental love in the family of Leon and Marie-Louise. Their sons Emile and Henri subsequently followed in their father's footsteps and made a brilliant career: one became an illustrator, the other an animal sculptor.
Career of the French academic artist Léon Basile Perrault
Little Leon was born in the city of Poitiers in the family of an ordinary tailor. The boy showed a love of drawing from an early age and at the age of 10 he entered the school of design. But due to the plight of his family at the age of 14, he leaves his studies and goes to work as an apprentice for an artist. This gave him the opportunity to continue painting.
At this time, the novice talent constantly took part in various drawing competitions, hoping to win. The year 1851 was marked by success: he won first place in the competition, received 600 francs from the city and became a scholar at the prestigious School of Fine Arts in Paris, then at the Academy, and later received an additional internship in private workshops with famous masters - Francois Edouard Picot, William Bouguereau, who became his lifelong friend.
In the early years of his studies, Perrault showed interest in allegorical and religious subjects. And in 1861, Leon began his career as an academic artist, who developed his own unique style, based on the traditions of academicism, which were founded in the 18th century.
Although in the second half of the 19th century, new directions began to develop in full force in France: the era of French impressionists, representatives of the Art Deco style and other fashion trends came. And it is not surprising that Leon's colleagues, engaged in creative pursuits, thirsty for novelty, did not recognize Perrault's archaic paintings with touching, carefully painted babies and naked girls.
But be that as it may, the master's academic canvases enjoyed considerable success with the Parisians. And in 1866, Napoleon III himself bought his painting "Nestled" for his residence.
The artist's dream was to enter the Paris Salon with his works, which is the most prestigious art exhibition in France. But failures in competitions for the prestigious prize "du Prix de Rome" haunted the artist. And only thanks to persistence and diligence Leon Perrault still achieved his goal, making his debut in 1860 with the painting "The Old Man and Three Youths" (Museum of Poitiers).
In the years that followed, Leon Perrault was an overwhelming success, since only his presence at this prestigious exhibition of the Salon was an important indicator of popularity among the public and his colleagues.
By the way, for forty-six years of his career, Perrault was absent from the exhibitions of the Salon for only four years. And participating in international exhibitions, he repeatedly became the owner of bronze and silver medals.
As an experienced battle painter, he even performed works together with the famous studio of Horace Vernet in 1862-64. Goupil & Co has reproduced reproductions of his popular paintings and distributed them overseas, making the artist widely popular in England and the United States.
Leon Perrault, being a member of the Society of French Artists, in 1887 was nominated as a candidate for the Knight of the Legion of Honor and became it. And by the end of his life he received the title “hors concours” at the Salon, which gave him the right to exhibit his works without submitting them to the jury.
Unfortunately, the name of the artist Leona Bazile Perrault is almost forgotten by art lovers, but his works of art are popular at Sotheby's and other auction houses.
Today his paintings are mostly kept in private American collections, but they can also be seen in some museums in Bordeaux, Poitiers, La Rochelle and Stuttgart.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the direction of romantic realism was developed in his painting by the Norwegian artist Hans Dahl, who wrote paintings on pastoral subjects.
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