Joseph Lépine (1867-1943) Caillac In The Lot

Joseph LÉPINE
(Rochefort 1867 – Paris 1943)
The Church of Caillac - Lot
Oil on cardboard
H. 33 cm; W. 41 cm
Signed lower left

Joseph Lépine quickly moved to Bordeaux where he learned from Louis-Alexandre Cabié, a well-known landscape painter in the region and master of many artists of the early 20th century. Despite the master's warnings, he wanted to confront the Parisian modernity of the late 19th century and discover the Impressionist and even post-Impressionist styles. There he became a student of the neoclassical painters Courtois and Girardot, both former students of the great Jean-Léon Gérôme. From 1897, he exhibited at the Salon where he sent landscapes of Provence. In 1905, he became a member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, the same year that the Fauves Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck participated and became known at the Salon d'Automne. A purchase by the State of the Salon des Indépendants of 1908, Vieille boutique, now preserved at the Menton Museum, marked an official launch of his career. He exhibited that year in London at the Royal Albert Hall, following the invitation of the Allied Artists' Association, which shows a form of distinction of the painter among the international art scene. In Paris, the artist met a number of well-known painters of the time in the districts of Montmartre and Montparnasse, notably Matisse and Signac. His work of painting is based in particular on his approach to matter, light and color whose juxtapositions present a play of saturation and composition from apparent reserves. After the First World War, Lépine returned more to his home region, where he painted landscapes around Bordeaux and up the Dordogne to the charming landscapes of the lower Corrèze. Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, Argentat, but also the Lot with the built-up escarpments of Saint Circq Lapopie. The city of Bordeaux and the State acquired two of his works representing a landscape near Verdelais and a view of the Church of Saint-Michel in Bordeaux in 1939 and 1941. Considered today as a very important figure in Bordeaux painting, and the only "post-impressionist" of the Girondine school, he holds his place on a national scale. A retrospective exhibition at the Musée d'Eysines was dedicated to him in 2021.

Our oil painting was created in the Lot and presents the village and the strong bell tower of the church of Caillac. This place is located on the meanders of the Lot River, five kilometers downstream from Cahors and the Valentré bridge also painted by Lépine. The support of this work, a cardboard, is used as a "reserve" to keep a brown background and bring contrast to the composition.