Louis Daran (1881–1969) “rock Of Basta And Lighthouse Of Biarritz” Basque Country (1947) Hsp 38x45cm

Louis DARAN (Pau 1881 – Pau 1969) “The Basta rock and the Biarritz lighthouse” (1947) Oil on panel signed and dated “7-47” lower left Titled on the back: “Biarritz Lighthouse” Dimensions: 38 x 45 cm Article from Sud-Ouest dated December 27, 1947: “An artist from Pau: The painter Louis Daran” Louis Daran is from Béarn, having been born in the capital of King Henry. Like his illustrious fellow citizen Ernest Gabard, Louis Daran drew before writing. Although Daran did not belong to any school, he did, at the beginning, receive valuable advice from René-Marie Castaing, Grand Prix de Rome winner, who was cut down in full swing. Under Castaing’s influence, he initially remained in blurred, noticeably melancholic tones. He gradually frees himself from it, attracted by the light, the beautiful illuminations that our prestigious sky provides. Daran paints the landscape, the undergrowth, the life of the plain and, with equal passion, the moving and wild Ocean. Nature in Béarn, in the Basque Country, as on the Silver Coast, will soon hold no more secrets for him. The sea, which he cherishes like the most capricious of mistresses, seduces him in its incessant mobility. Whether it is peaceful and lulling, whether it undulates with voluptuousness; whether it roars discontentedly, whether it unleashes itself in its furious and formidable anger. He seeks it and pursues it, he tracks it down. He captures its great provocative thrills, its tempting caresses, its majestic impulses, its sudden and impressive mood swings, its monstrous revolts. Alongside his paintings, Daran has illustrated with originality, some local brochures. He also handled the poster with skill. Daran exhibited regularly at the Salon des Amis des Arts in Pau. He participated, intermittently, but successfully, in the exhibitions of Bayonne and Biarritz, at the Château Fort de Lourdes, at the Salon de Bordeaux, at the Salon de Lyon, at the Society of Mobilized Artists in Paris; at the Society of French Artists, also in Paris. Faithful to his Béarn, which he never left, a refined painter and indulgent philosopher, Louis Daran belongs to that noble line of Pau artists who skillfully exalt the splendors of our little kingdom, the most beautiful in the world.