Léon Detroy (1859-1955) Apples And Chestnuts ~1935. School Of Crozant, Gargilesse, Guillaumin

Very beautiful new work by Léon Detroy, an oil on canvas representing a still life with apples and chestnuts circa 1930/1940, signed lower right + circular stamp of the studio sale on the back. Size of the painting alone 24x41cm. This is indeed a very original small post-impressionist composition by Léon Detroy, here he creates a very autumnal still life with apples and chestnuts on a background of dead leaves; so made around 1935, period of maturity of the master of Gargilesse who then uses his typical touch of this period and there a palette of very warm tones where the ochres rub shoulders with the greens, yellows, browns etc... Composition with a fauve tendency, powerful, daring and very decorative, in short typical of the art of Detroy. Great painter among the greats, I only briefly present Léon Detroy, leader with Guillaumin, of the today famous School of Crozant. With Guillaumin, these 2 painters will share the honors, the students, the friends but also the sites of the Creuse valley, Detroy being more attached to Gargilesse and its surroundings, when Guillaumin was more for Crozant and its surroundings. So first settled in Crozant, then in Fresselines and Gargilesse, he will become an essential figure of the Creuse valley. He had studied in Paris alongside Lebourg, like the latter, he left school quite quickly, too academic for him. He met Creuse around 1888, after reading George Sand, and there he met Maurice Rollinat, Monet and became a friend of Alluaud with whom he shared trips to Italy or Agay where he met other great painters of the time, such as Valtat, Van den Eckout, Anquetin etc... who would remain faithful to him all their lives. He had the recognition of many artists and critics of the time. His techniques would evolve throughout his life; he will adopt the divisionist touch as here, then become almost Fauve with a broader touch, then mix small touches and large flat areas until stylizing his motifs, whether in the Creuse, on the Côte d'Azur, in Collioure, in Italy, in the Maghreb, in Holland, Belgium, Brittany etc... he was therefore a great traveler, but it will be the shores of the Mediterranean that will attract the artist the most. At the end of his career, settled in Gargillesse, he will only do still lifes, but they will have had a very important part in his career, some will be true masterpieces, as much as his landscapes; this one proves it to us once again. And even at the end of his life, the charm will continue to operate as his painting remains TRUE and SINCERE! Finally recognized as one of the greatest painters of the Creuse valley, if not the greatest, his popularity continues to grow, even more so since the exhibition and the work previously mentioned. Oil on its original canvas, in very good condition, delivered in a contemporary frame (I will put a photo with the frame later) Work guaranteed authentic