"the First Cigarette" Pastel By Maxime Clément Known As "max Clément"

Superb pastel (and watercolor) depicting 3 children sitting at the foot of a wall to smoke. The middle child, visibly very pale, cannot stand this first cigarette. For this reason, his friend, located to the left of the painting, delicately places his hand on his forehead, with naivety, as a mother would do to her sick child. This "snapshot" full of tenderness and high-quality realism shows us all the technique and talent of Maxime Clément, specialist in the genre. Figure painter and watercolorist, Max Clément was director of the drawing school of Lorient, before becoming curator of the museum of the same city. National School of Fine Arts. Bronze medal at the International Exhibition of Paris in 1937.