Arnaud Marcel (1877-1956) "still Life With Fruits And Vegetables" Cézanne Provence Aix Paris

ARNAUD Marcel (1877-1956)

"Still life with fruits and vegetables"
Homage to Cézanne

Oil on cardboard,
Signed lower left,
Provenance: Purchased by its former owner in Aix en Provence in June 1993.

Beautiful work by the Aix painter Marcel Arnaud which represents a still life with fruits and vegetables in a wicker basket.
The colors of the fruits and vegetables are vivid. The background is sober and discreet.

The Aix painter Joseph Ravaisou was one of the privileged few to accompany Cézanne on the motif. He exerted a decisive influence on Marcel Arnaud. It was therefore mainly through the painter Ravaisou that Marcel Arnaud learned to love Cézanne and to understand his innovative contribution. His influence can be found in his fruit still lifes.

A student of Louis Maistre at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and an apprentice decorator at Apy & Parton, he moved to Paris at the age of 18. He then worked at Capezat and Thibé, made theater sets for Jusseaume while studying the old masters at the Louvre. He met the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle in particular.
Nostalgic for his hometown, he returned to Marseille where he married in 1904. He met the painter Paul Cézanne in Saint-Henri and painted several works there in his presence.
He exhibited in regional Salons and belonged to the group founded by Valère Bernard "Le Cénacle".

In 1914, he was appointed professor at the Aix-en-Provence School of Fine Arts and then director from 1917 to 1946. At the same time, he was assistant curator of the city's Granet Museum in 1922 and then curator from 1926 to 1947.
At the same time, Marcel Arnaud refused to sell all of his own already painted works to the famous art dealer Ambroise Vollard, who had asked him for them privately. His friend John Rewald supported him on this point, writing: "Marcel Arnaud brings to painting the Cézannian continuity that time has not left to Paul Cézanne."

The numerous exchanges of letters between Paul Cézanne and Marcel Arnaud are also in the hands of John Rewald. These activities did not prevent him from painting, nor from exhibiting in galleries in Marseille or Aix en Provence. The last solo exhibition took place in 1955, three months before his death.
He was name a knight of the Legion of Honor.

Dimensions: 38 x 53 cm without frame and 51.5 x 66.5 cm with its original gilded wood frame (some old restorations to the frame).

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