Louis Mathieu Verdilhan (1875 - 1928) — Cherry Trees In Blossom Near Allauch

Cherry trees in bloom near Allauch
Oil on canvas, signed lower right
57 x 73 cm

Provenance:
Private collection, South of France

Louis Mathieu Verdilhan: Fauvist modernity in Provence

Self-taught painter, Louis Mathieu Verdilhan is part of the tradition of Provençal landscape artists of the second half of the 19th century, whom he deeply admires. Strongly attached to the contributions of his predecessors, he is not insensitive to the pictorial upheavals that occurred at the dawn of the 20th century. It was only from 1909 that Verdilhan's works began to pay a certain tribute to Fauvism. He explored certain facets of the movement in a very personal way, allowing him to advance in his own chromatic and formal research. Fauvism would have acted on Verdilhan as a kind of revealer, providing a collective answer to questions that had been troubling the painter for some time already. From this Fauvist explosion, he intercepted the shards, which were as many fragments of molten material that he worked with caution, sparingly integrating certain innovations into his work, adapting the solutions brought by Fauvism to his own questions. He thus learned to frankly transpose colors and to stretch them into flat tints, began to consider a layering of planes that created a singular perspective. In 1909, he exhibited in Paris at Bernheim, alongside Edmond Cross, Félix Vallotton, Paul Signac, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard. That year, at the request of Joachim Gasquet, he produced a series of canvases whose subject was the park of Versailles. The following year, his work was presented at the Druet Gallery, alongside works by Henri Manguin, Albert Marquet, and Henri Matisse. Between 1910 and 1914, Verdilhan divided his time between Paris and Marseille. He participated in the "Provençal Renaissance" dear to Alfred Lombard and Pierre Girieud, who aimed to make the Phocaean city a more dynamic artistic center. An exhibition dedicated to the artist was being prepared in Leipzig, but the war prevented it from happening. It must be said that Verdilhan's concerns, particularly since 1911, brought him significantly closer to the work of the German Expressionists, and in particular the group Der Blaue Reiter which had just been created around Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and August Macke. Pierre Girieud made the connection between these foreign avant-garde movements and his Marseille companions, particularly through his relationship with Adolf Erbslöh, co-founder of the New Association of Munich Artists (NKV). Verdilhan thus explored sinuous and angular lines, sharp cutouts, and triangular flat tints. His palette took on acid tones in compositions that revealed the artist's inner anxiety. From 1914 onwards, Verdilhan's work took a different direction, finding in the 1920s a synthetic form of expression of modernity. His friend, the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, encouraged him to exhibit in the United States, and a partnership was formed with the New York gallery Kraushaar in 1923. However, success across the Atlantic was not forthcoming, and the artist remained devastated by this commercial failure. Verdilhan remains, alongside René Seyssaud and Auguste Chabaud, one of the standards of modernity in Provence. While each of them followed a very personal artistic path, their names have nevertheless regularly been put together to highlight an innovative form of expression likely to inspire the younger generation in the region.

Discover more of this artist's works on the gallery's website: https://www.galeriepentcheff.fr/fr/peintre-louis-mathieu-verdilhan#Bio