Jean Cluseau-lanauve (1914-1997) The Pianist

Jean CLUSEAU-LANAUVE
(Périgueux 1914 - Paris 1997)
The pianist
Oil on canvas
H. 46 cm; W. 38 cm
Signed lower right. Countersigned, titled and dated on the back - 1962

Provenance: Exhibited in Cannes in the Galerie 65

Jean Cluseau-Lanauve was born in 1914 in Périgueux into a family from the department. It was here that he "encountered" the arts, encouraged by his parents in this direction, before leaving to study them in Paris where he settled. He entered in 1933, leaving shortly before the war, during which he was taken prisoner in Germany. Training as a lithographer and draftsman would mark his early career, becoming, in the 1950s to 1980s, a figure recognized both by his artist contemporaries and by a fervent clientele. Although head of the girl group at the post-war Paris school, Cluseau-Lanauve did not abandon his native Périgord. He owned a house near Les Eyzies where he set up a small studio giving him a view of the colors of this land he loved so much. His first painting presented at the Salon des Artistes Français, in 1935, was a Landscape of the Périgord. It would also be purchased by the State. Cluseau-Lanauve constantly placed this beloved Périgord in his works, which he created from sketches taken on location. Many notebooks of these sketches have been dispersed since his death and can now be found on the art market, sheet by sheet. His oils, which became Cubist in the 1950s, are images with clean lines that seek only to highlight the idealized subject, through luminous facets.

Our painting, dated 1962, is a rare subject in the painter's work. This pianist harnessed to his instrument, seen from the room, is represented under the spotlights. They are materialized by luminous axes, but also by a slight suppression of material (blue zone). The composition is powerful, centered on the virtuoso in a bath of rich tones.