Portrait Of A Child (laurent Dollinger, 1902) - Jules Raymond Koenig

Pastel from the beginning of the 20th century, signed top right Jules Raymond Koenig (1872-1966). This is a portrait of Laurent Dollinger as a child (1902-1980), son of the Alsatian doctor Ferdinand Dollinger, who played a leading role in defending French cultural tradition in Alsace. Jules Raymond Koenig was born in 1872 in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. He was raised by his mother in Paris, with the help of his uncles and aunts. After his baccalaureate and a long stay in England and Scotland, he returned to Paris and entered the Atelier Merson in 1891 where he became friends with Thiry, de Meuron, Gruyer, Morax, de Geymuller. In 1894, he entered the Atelier of Jean-Paul Laurens. After his military service in 1895, he was admitted to the Beaux-Arts and in 1896 joined the studio of Gustave Moreau, later nicknamed "La cage aux fauves". He was the youngest student there and rubbed shoulders with Rouault, Matisse, Flandrin, Camoin, Dabadie, Marquet, Manguin, Evenepoel. He achieved his first successes in 1901 on the occasion of the exhibition of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. He exhibited there every year until 1913. There followed a long period of commissions for portraits and decorative panels in Paris and Alsace, as well as numerous trips to Brittany, Auvergne, Italy, Germany and the South of France. He married Denise Haffner in 1911. After a long honeymoon in Italy, they settled on rue Guynemer. They had two sons, Philippe (1914-1980) and Pierre (1917-2008). When war was declared, he was posted to Taverny until 1915. He was then appointed interpreter officer in the 61st DAC of the British Army in the Somme and Picardy. In early 1918, he was promoted to second lieutenant at the British Army Headquarters. Until his demobilization at the end of 1919, he produced numerous portraits of senior British officers. From 1920, in addition to his activities as a painter, he became a representative of the Cristalleries de Nancy, created by Emile Gallé, for England as well as of Haviland & Co from 1922. After a first trip to New York, he was appointed artistic director at Haviland in 1928 to create new collections with a team of decorative artists: Dresa, Laboureur, Barbier, Marty, Paule Marot, Okanouyi, Lenker, Bonfils, Urbain, Haffner and Demailly. Free time was devoted to exhibitions (Salon d'Automne, Beaux-Arts, etc.) and to trips to Alsace, Auvergne, Brittany and the South of France.