Brittany Concarneau By Pierre Lepage

Brittany Lanriec district of Concarneau by Pierre Lepage oil on canvas signed lower right and dated 38 located on the back, format with the frame 74cm x 60cm format of the canvas 65cm x 50cm, Painter, born in Epinal in 1906, died in Paris in 1983. After studying at the high school of his hometown, he became a student of Prouvé at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, who would let him work independently. Tempted by cubism, two of his early works earned him the encouragement of Picasso. After his military service, he went to Paris where he entered the studio of André Lhote. After visiting museums in Belgium and Holland, where his taste was formed through contact with Flemish masters, he made a trip to southern Algeria, from where he brought back many paintings, one of which was selected for the 1931 Colonial Exhibition. Returning to Epinal for a while, he left again, with André Jacquemin, for Morocco, where he produced remarkable works. He mingled with the people, not afraid to lead the life of the native, then, guided by a love of limitless freedom, he wandered in Tafilalet. Lodged by the legionnaires, he decorated their rooms with his usual fantasy. Back in France, he was tempted by Brittany and married there. His seascapes and his bridges of Paris made him one of the best Lorraine painters of his time. For the regional pavilion of the 1937 International Exhibition, he executed two immense canvases and a central panel of a triptych on Joan of Arc. In the spring of 1940, he was awarded the Ab-del-Tif Prize. A prisoner in 1940, he managed to get himself discharged and reach Algeria, one of his favorite lands. In 1944, part of his work was burned in Epinal during the bombing of this city. After the Liberation, he brought back new works to France, became official painter of the army and settled in Concarneau. Since 1940, he has exhibited regularly at the Salon d'Automne. His works are in the museums of Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Rabat, Vannes, Pont-Aven, Epinal and Saint-Dié. He was a Commander of Arts and Letters