Joseph Hurard (1887-1956) Comtadines On The Way

Broad brush and knife strokes that generate a creamy material, while leaving in places the reserves of the cardboard, a harmony of gray colors and the sweetness of bucolic life in Provence at the beginning of the 20th century for this oil on cardboard by the Avignon painter Joseph Hurard. The work in good condition is offered in a modern molded frame in shades of gray that measures 52.5 cm by 77.5 cm and 46 cm by 61 cm for the cardboard alone. It represents two elderly Comtadines who seem to be discussing and a young woman holding a hen in her hand on a path near a village, certainly in Villeneuve lez Avignon where the artist was a regular. The work from which serenity and poetry emerge is signed lower right.

Born in Avignon in 1887, he first worked in a drugstore. Selling canvases and colors to Avignon artists, he met them on Sundays to paint with them. His talent noticed, he was part of the "Group of Thirteen" created in 1912 by Clément Brun, of which he was the youngest. He became friends with Joseph Meissonnier and participated with the group in a first exhibition on December 21, 1912, which was a great success, followed by a second exhibition on December 18, 1913, which was also the last of the Group. In this melting pot, he frequented elders already touched by fame such as Lina Bill or Auguste Chabaud. Among the most gifted draftsmen of his generation, painting with disconcerting ease, he quickly got noticed. Unfortunately Hurard did not go to study at the Beaux-Arts, which we can regret because he would probably have been one of the greatest painters of his time. He died in Martigues in 1956. Exhibition at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris Exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants, Paris Retrospective in Martigues in 1956 Works in the Public Collections Calvet Museum in Avignon Ziem Museum in Martigues Regards de Provence Foundation in Marseille