Jean-baptiste Olive (1848-1936) Seaside At Dusk In Saint Cyr Sur Mer

The seaside in Provence. One of the great subjects of the leading Marseille painter of the late 19th century, the famous Jean-Baptiste Olive.
A magnificent late afternoon light coming from the horizon makes its way through the pines and rocks accentuating the contrast between the elements. Jean-Baptiste Olive signs here a superb and luminous view of a shore near Saint Cyr.
The work of large dimensions is in excellent condition, it is done in oil on canvas, it is offered in a beautiful gilded Louis XIV style frame which measures 107 cm by 126 cm and 73 cm by 92 cm for the canvas alone.
A work full of charm and poetry, in excellent condition and of very high quality, signed lower left.

Jean-Baptiste Olive was encouraged by a decorator friend, Étienne Cornellier, to enroll at the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, where his teacher was Johanny Rave (1827-1882).
His work earned him awards every year and a first prize for the live model class. He learned the craft of decorator. He painted Marseille extensively, its Old Port, its islands and its shores. In 1874, he traveled to Italy, to Genoa and Venice. He exhibited occasionally at the various Provençal Salons. He was deeply humble about his talent and did not feel the desire to pass on his knowledge to any student. However, Jean-Baptiste Olive left as many critics and gallery owners as friends perplexed, fascinated by the contrast between a dazzlingly clear painting and a painter with a complex and introverted personality. He managed to carve out a place of honor in the lives and hearts of the people he met during his career, and many patrons supported him. In 1948, ten years after his death, the Cantini Museum in Marseille dedicated the centenary exhibition of his birth to him, presenting eighty-two works from his vast artistic career. His presence dominated this maritime landscape movement. He became friends with Gustave Marius Jullien (1825-1881), Étienne Cornellier, and Antoine Vollon.
He frequented Robert Mols and became friends with Raymond Allègre and Théophile Henri Décanis. In Paris, he participated in the decoration of the Cirque d'Hiver, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Montmartre and some pavilions at the 1889 Universal Exhibition.
From 1874, he participated in the Paris Salon and won several prizes in the following years.
He became a member of the Salon des artistes français in 1881 and received a silver medal at the 1889 Universal Exhibition. General Malesherbes bought his paintings.
In 1900, he received a commission for two paintings to decorate the Salle Dorée of the Le Train Bleu restaurant at the Gare de Lyon in Paris.

Works in the Public Collections
Athens, National Art Gallery: The surroundings of Saint Cyr, 1914, oil on canvas, 111 × 158 cm; Mistral, oil on canvas, 46 × 60 cm Mistral in Marseille, oil on canvas, 89 × 130 cm Shore in Marseille, oil on canvas, 46 × 60 cm
Béziers, Museum of Fine Arts: Still Life with Fruit, 1872, oil on canvas.
Colmar, prefecture of Haut-Rhin: Evening, Villefranche harbor, 1893, pen, Indian ink, scratch card. Study for the painting exhibited at the Salon of 1893, 20 × 18.4 cm.
Le Havre, André Malraux Museum of Modern Art: The Cliff, oil on canvas, 14.5 × 23.7 cm
Marseille: Cantini Museum: Carry-le-Rouet, before 1917, oil on canvas, 27 × 35 cm The Wreck of the Navarre, near Carry, before 1917, oil on canvas, 39 × 48 cm Storm, before 1917, oil on canvas, 36.5 × 73 cm
Grobet-Labadié Museum: A Wave, oil on canvas, 15 × 22.5 cm
Museum of the Navy and Economy: Quai aux huiles.
Museum of Fine Arts of Marseille: La Corniche in Marseille, oil on canvas, 172 × 245 cm La Salute in Venice, oil on canvas, 49 × 65 cm Marine, oil on canvas, 65 × 92 cm
Paris: Department of Graphic Arts of the Louvre Museum, Landscape, scratchboard, Indian ink Gare de Lyon: Large fresco of the Gare de Lyon, 1900, oil on canvas mounted.
Le Train bleu restaurant, golden room: The Old Port of Marseille, 1900, oil on canvas; Saint-Honorat, 1901, oil on canvas.
Toulon, art museum: Port of Toulon, 1878, oil on canvas, 90 × 83 cm Port of Marseille, 1880, oil on wood, 32 × 25 cm, this small painting bears a dedication to Jean Aicard dated May 3, 1880 and located in Paris Calanque d'en Vau, oil on canvas, 73 × 60 cm Brazil, São Paulo, art museum: Seascape with rocks, 47 × 64.5 cm Tribute Knight of the Legion of Honor on January 20, 1899, promoted to Officer on August 12, 1923 A street in Marseille bears his name.

Exhibitions
Paris, Universal Exhibition of 1889 (silver medal). 1948,
Cantini Museum in Marseille, exhibition for the centenary of the birth of Jean-Baptiste Olive, 82 works presented. 2008, Geneva (Switzerland),
Galerie Bartha et Senarclens welcomes the Marc Stammegna gallery from June 6 to July 31, 2008, "These painters of Provence", a group exhibition of 22 painters including Jean-Baptiste Olive, Frédéric Montenard, Louis Valtat and Félix Ziem.
From September 26, 2008 to January 25, 2009, Palais des Arts in Marseille, "Jean-Baptiste Olive - Prism of light", organized by the Regards de Provence Foundation.