Fernand Le Gout-gérard (1856-1924), The Market In Front Of The Halles In Auray

Fernand Le Gout-gérard (1856-1924) Le Marché Devant Les Halles à Auray Pastel signed lower right and dated 99 Size: 33 x 55 cm Size with frame: 55 x 79 cm A similar work but dated 1900 was presented during the exhibition on the artist at the Musée du Faouet in 2010. (photo 6) The point of view is similar, but the scene of life different. The artist Fernand Le Gout-Gérard, born in 1854 in Saint-Lô, revealed from a very young age a passion for drawing. As a curious child, he sketched boats, landscapes and human figures, his notebooks filled with carefully dated and signed sketches. If the weight of family tradition oriented him towards a career in public finances, his artistic flame remained intact. Participating in exhibitions from 1883, he travelled the lands of Finistère, Concarneau, Pont-Aven, Quimper capturing the beauty of twilight, discreet mists and changing reflections on the water. Sensitive to vaporous atmospheres and subtle plays of light, he developed a luminous palette, in delicate counterpoint to impressionism. Concarneau became his refuge, where he acquired the villa Ker Moor in 1903, with a vast studio bathed in light. From broad marine horizons, his art evolved towards intimate port scenes, highlighting human activity on the quays and the coming and going of sardine boats. Criticized with praise for his sense of the picturesque and his mastery of marine reflections, Le Gout-Gérard seduced with a "vibrant palette of light". Market scenes Le Gout-Gérard, known for his talent in depicting port and market scenes, is an artist whose work is distinguished by its stylistic evolution. Although, from the beginning in 1887, he devoted himself mainly to seascapes, it was a decade later, in 1898 and 1899, that he began to explore market scenes, particularly during his visits to Hennebont and Le Faouët. These discoveries enriched his repertoire and broadened his scope. Thanks to the acquisition of a car, the artist was now able to travel to more distant locations such as Guémené-sur-Scorff, Pontivy, Auray, as well as in the Côtes-d'Armor in Guingamp, Lannion, Paimpol and Dinan, to immortalize other lively scenes of daily life. The characters, treated collectively rather than individually, are highlighted by the picturesqueness of their costumes and by their harmonious arrangement in the urban landscape. These scenes are often framed by houses with steep roofs and ancient monuments, such as picturesque market halls or religious buildings, such as Quimper Cathedral or the church of Baud, which serve as a backdrop to this representation of a bygone world. The atmosphere of intimacy and life that emerges from these scenes testifies to the artist's excellence in capturing the souls of his subjects.