Fernand Pinal (1881-1958) étrépilly

Fernand Pinal (1881-1958) Étrépilly Oil on panel, signed lower left 27x35cm (original frame) Fernand Pinal, born December 13, 1881 in Bruyères-et-Montbérault (Aisne), died October 12, 1958 in Romeny-sur-Marne (Aisne), is a French painter and engraver. After a nine-year military engagement, he was a tax collector successively in Bruyères-et-Montbérault, Gandelu, Charly-sur-Marne and Meaux. At the same time, he never stopped painting and engraving. Initially a student of Jacques-Émile Blanche, whom he quickly left, he entered the studio of Henri Martin where he became friends with two fellow students, Henri Le Sidaner and Pierre Eugène Montézin. After the war, he was drawn to the forests around Paris, particularly in Meudon, Viroflay, Clamart, and specialized in depicting trees in bloom and the splendor of spring. In turn, he was an illustrator of poetry and music magazines, a cellist - he played in the Parisian orchestra of Casadesus - a lecturer, poet, actor, art critic, painting restorer, gourmet, and angler (an occupation he sometimes shared with Montézin on the banks of the Loing), painting and engraving remained the greatest passions of his life. In Gandelu, he became friends with the man of letters Alexandre Mercereau, owner of the château. A friend of many painters such as Eugène Buland, Gustave Valérian, Pierre Ladureau, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, Carlos-Reymond, Pierre Eugène Montézin and Henri Le Sidaner, he exhibited on several occasions at the Salon de Lagny with Édouard Cortès, Alexandre Jacob and Pierre Eugène Montézin. He was a member of the Society of French Artists and won the gold medal in the engraving section of his Salon in 1957 for The Market and the Cathedral of Laon. He was also a member of the National Society of Fine Arts and the Winter Salon, as well as the Committee of French Etchers. A regionalist painter, he was the founder of the Society of Laon Artists, a member of the Historical and Archaeological Society of Château-Thierry, the town of La Fontaine, where he invited Paul Fort. Public collections: Franco-American Museum of Blérancourt, Museum of Art and Archaeology of Laon. Jean-de-La-Fontaine Museum, Château-Thierry. Jean-Racine Museum, La Ferté-Milon. Bossuet Museum, Meaux, The Market Bridge in Meaux, oil on canvas, 1913. Gatien-Bonnet Museum, Lagny-sur-Marne. Royan Museum, Charente-Maritime, five paintings: Museum of Art and History of La Rochelle, Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris. Town halls of Essômes-sur-Marne, Romeny-sur-Marne, Charly-sur-Marne, and Saint-Gengoulph.