Augustin Carrera (1875 - 1952) — Sleeping Nude I

Sleeping Nude I
Oil on canvas
80 x 114 cm

Provenance:
Private collection, South of France

Augustin Carrera – A French painter between academicism and Eastern light

Born on April 3, 1878 in Madrid to French parents, Augustin Carrera showed a talent for drawing very early on. He quickly entered art schools, first at the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, where he studied under Alphonse Moutte, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the studio of the famous Léon Bonnat. A scholarship holder from the City of Marseille, Carrera established himself among the brightest students in his class and was noted for his promising talent.After his marriage, Augustin Carrera went through a difficult period financially. He absolutely had to make a living from his art, which strengthened his determination. He drew with a new ardor, fueled by his observations of the masters in galleries and museums: Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, but especially Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Van Gogh and Pissarro, who had a lasting influence on his practice. The landscape became a central subject of his works, where he deployed a lively chromatic palette and a renewed pictorial approach. In 1912, Carrera obtained the Indochina Scholarship, marking a decisive turning point in his career. He spent eight months in Asia, bringing back powerful works inspired by temples, the banks of the Red River, and scenes of local life. The King of Cambodia commissioned decorative panels for his palace, which he installed during a second trip in 1928. Mobilized during the 1914 war, wounded, he recovered in Allauch in 1916. A trip to Spain exposed him to the masterpieces of El Greco and Velázquez, and encouraged him to settle in Montparnasse, then the new artistic heart of Paris. Carrera, discreet, continued his work in a personal and sober style. He established a strong relationship with the politician Albert Sarraut, who actively supported his career. From 1910, Carrera exhibited in the most prestigious Salons: Salon des Tuileries, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Artistes Français, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Triennale Quai Malaquais, and the International Exhibition of 1937, where he received a gold medal. He was also supported by the critic François Thiébault-Sisson, in the columns of the newspaper Le Temps, and represented by the Druet and Georges Petit galleries, which allowed him to exhibit female nudes, a theme he explored with finesse and sensuality. Carrera developed a varied body of work, in which exotic landscapes, luminous nudes, and monumental sets occupied a prominent place. In 1924, he designed the sets for the Marseille Opera, surrounded by his friends from the Provençal school, including Hurard, Eichacker, De Groux, Audibert, and Verdilhan. If the landscape revealed his mastery of color, it was in the female nude that Augustin Carrera asserted his singularity. He combined sensuality, anatomical rigor, and chromatic refinement. The light sculpted the flesh, revealing a measured eroticism, a thick paste, and colorful gray tones with an almost sculptural rendering. Antoine Bourdelle would say it this way: "Carrera found a way in his painting to combine bold color and exquisite finesse of atmosphere. Marseilles, you have a great painter! Take care of him!" Carrera was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1920, then Officer in 1928. He left behind a prolific, sensitive body of work, open to elsewhere, imbued with humanism and light.

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