René Rodes (1896-1971) Mounards Mill In Trélissac Périgueux Dordogne

René RODES
(Agen 1896 – Bordeaux 1971)
L'Isle au Moulin de Mounardsà Trélissac - Périgueux
Oil on thin cardboard
H. 42 cm; W. 52 cm
Signed lower right, and dated 1929

Exhibition: 1929, Salon des Beaux-Arts de la Dordonge, Périgueux, n°255

René Rodes settled with his parents in Toulouse, obtained first prizes in drawing, helped by his father, Compagnon du Devoir. These advanced notions for the graphic arts allowed the young man to continue in this path at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de la Ville Rose. Following the mobilization of the Great War, he did not resume his artistic studies but a teaching career by becoming a professor of literature in Périgueux in 1921. A few years after his arrival in the Dordogne prefecture, he became friends with Julien Saraben, who would become director of the Municipal School of Drawing and then professor of drawing at the Ecole Normale and Curator of the Périgord Museum in 1937. A connoisseur of many techniques that he used daily for his own work, Saraben encouraged René Rodes to deepen his regular practice of drawing. During the 1920s and 1930s, he exhibited his paintings and drawings very regularly at the Salon of the Société des Beaux-Arts de la Dordogne in Périgueux, not forgetting the more discreet exhibitions in Sarlat, Brantôme and Bergerac. It was in 1939 that Rodes obtained his transfer and joined Bordeaux, still as a professor of literature. There he met his wife who was also a teacher. The famous group of Gironde artists "L'Atelier" opened its doors to him in 1947, the year he was a guest at their annual salon. The following year he became a member of this artistic society and was even elected secretary, then general secretary seven years later. Very attached to the artistic activity of "L'Atelier", he was even offered a salon in his home as an exhibition space for the 1957 Salon, for lack of an official venue. During the exhibition dedicated to the Port of Bordeaux, organized by "L'Atelier" in 1954, René Rodes won first prize. This award was the result of several decades of apprenticeship with painters in the region. He participated in the events of this important association from 1941 to 1965 while exhibiting, at the same time, at the Leyle and L'Ami des Lettres galleries. From 1948 to 1954, he attended Saturday afternoon classes at the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts, with Robert Charazac and Pierre-Albert Bégaud as teachers, among others, with whom he became friends and came to stay regularly in Bidarray in the Basque Country, where they painted together and were joined by other artists such as Camille de Buzon. At the end of the 1950s, René Rodes exhibited more and more regularly in Aquitaine and increased his artistic production. During his eighteen years in Périgord, Rodes produced numerous works from the Périgueux area, fitting into this gentle stylistic vein that can now be called the "Périgord school". Not one shade higher than the other, the same goes for the subjects which have nothing ostentatious, simply the beauty of the landscapes and the natural light.

Arriving in Périgueux by the Cours de L'Isle, you will see on your right in the last meanders which approach you to the famous Saint Front cathedral, a very beautiful manor house with a tower in front. This manor is none other than the master's house of the now destroyed mill which faced it and was placed on the bank, taking an arm of the river to recover its force. This house which is today hidden by filthy commercial buildings planted a few meters from its old walls, keeps its presence in front of the waves. Here represented in 1929, this house still had its mill which hides it almost entirely in this composition.