Joseph Paul Meslé (1855-1927) Church Of Togny-aux-boeufs Before The Storm.

Joseph Paul MESLÉ (1855-1927) Church of Togny-aux-Boeufs before the storm. Oil on canvas signed lower left and countertitled on the frame. 56 x 64 cm. The frame bears a label Galeries Georges Petit without annotation. oseph Paul Meslé (1855-1927) Born on January 25, 1855 in Saint-Servan, near Saint-Malo, His gifts for drawing were so obvious that the young boy was sent to the School of Fine Arts in Rennes. In 1875 Meslé left for the Beaux-Arts in Paris with a letter of recommendation from Jean François Millet (1814-1875), a brilliant student, hard worker and conscientious, he participated in the 1880 Salon. Ten years later he left the French artists to join in 1892, Rodin, Puvis d Chavannes, the splitters of the National Society of Fine Arts. Meslé settled in Reins in the years 1881-1882, he quickly became a renowned portrait painter, in 1890 he married Yacinthe Bremontier. They moved to Jaulgonne located along the Marne, between Dormans and Château-Thierry, a few kilometers from his colleague, Léon Lhermitte (1844-1925). In 1896 the couple settled in Chamigny. Very concerned by the pictorial movements of his time, he heard the cry of the wild beasts, exhibited with the "neo-impressionists of Lagny, frequented Lhermitte and the painters of Luzancy, Bouché and Massé. In Chamigny, Meslé would give his advice to an enthusiastic young man, an accomplished violinist and crazy about painting; André Planson (1898-1981). Meslé knew success, his paintings sold well, in France and in the United States, he exhibited at the Galerie Georges Petit, in 1925 Americans bought his entire stock of paintings. Meslé died suddenly on June 20, 1927. Public collections: Museum of Fine Arts of Reins Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes Museum of Saint-Malo Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris Fabre Museum of Montpellier Briard Museum of Jouarre Chamigny Town Hall