Gard Léon (1901-1979) "still Life With Oranges" Paris Isle Adam Fruits Tulle Bonshommes

GARD Léon (1901-1979)

"Still life with oranges"

Oil on cardboard,
Signed top right,

Provenance: Family of the artist,

Luminous work of the painter Léon Gard which represents a still life with oranges in a crystal fruit bowl. This canvas was created by the artist around 1965.

Born in Tulles in Corèze, the Gard family will settle about ten years later in Morigny near Etampes then in Paris.
From the age of 12, Léon Gard shows his artistic predispositions by making his portrait in charcoal.
At 16, he copies old paintings for a play "Petite Reine". He received encouragement from the State and was proposed as a member of the Salon d'Automne the following year.

In 1922, he entered the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the studio of the painter Ernest Laurent, but finding it difficult to tolerate the theories of his teachers and the atmosphere that reigned in this school, he signed a contract with the art dealer Georges Chéron who exhibited Soutine, Foujita and Van Dongen.
His friend and patron, Louis Metman, director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, then allocated him a pension so that he could paint in Toulon. The economic crisis of 1931 forced the painter to find a job in a painting restoration workshop of which he would become the owner. At the same time, he continued to send his works to the Salon de la Nationale and to exhibit at the Galerie Charpentier et Bernheim in Paris.
Thanks to his job, he became friends with Sacha Guitry.

In 1946, Léon Gard founded the art magazine Apollo and then began a crusade against non-figurative painting. In order to escape the tumult of Paris, the artist stayed several times at the Château des Bonshommes in the forest of Isle Adam and took pleasure in representing the Parc des Bonshommes according to the whims of the weather and the seasons.

Léon Gard was a great colorist who strived to represent what he saw with precision in compositions where he sometimes expressed his love of precise contours, detail, the weight of things; other times, in a broader way, he gave himself over to his love of atmosphere and colored vibrations; finally, he tries on a few occasions to merge these two almost irreconcilable problems into one in the same work.

For further information on the artist, we can refer to the website dedicated to the painter.

Dimensions: 33 x 41 cm without frame and 52 x 60 cm with its modern wooden frame.

A catalog on the painter Léon Gard (1901-1979) as well as a certificate from the rights holder will be given to the purchaser.

For more information, contact us.