Gerard Legout, Concarneau, Brittany

Fernand, Marie, Eugène Le Gout-Gérard, born October 29, 1856, in Saint-Lô, and died in Paris on August 14, 1924, was a French painter, watercolorist, and etcher. The son of Auguste Le Gout-Gérard and Antoinette Augustine Adeline, he attended the college in Saint-Lô and later became a tax collector and authorized representative for the General Treasury of the Manche department. He discovered Concarneau (Finistère) around 1890 and would return there for over forty years. At the age of 33, he decided to abandon his profession for painting. A member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Pastel Society of London, he was appointed official painter to the Navy on September 27, 1900. On July 10, 1893, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, he married Philippe Marie Louise Renée Charbonnier, born on April 26, 1870, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, daughter of Joseph Alexandre Chabonnier, a man of letters, and Marie-Louise Gigault de la Bédollière, and who died on June 11, 1957, in Concarneau. He settled in Concarneau in 1903, establishing himself as the "preeminent painter of the markets and ports of Brittany." He chaired the committee of the Fête des Filets Bleus (Festival of the Blue Nets) and was a fervent defender of the walled city's ramparts. He devoted himself entirely to painting. His house, the famous villa Ty Ker Moor, became a meeting place for the "Concarneau painters." He painted the markets, the fairs, and the returning fishermen. He was a close friend of the artist couple Emmy Leuze-Hirschfeld and Emil-Benediktoff Hirschfeld. A painter of silhouettes, he sketched women in traditional headdresses and children. He was a favorite painter of lovers, scenes of daily life, and picturesque scenes. The artist frequently depicted Brittany; he remains one of the most representative painters of the "Concarneau group." He produced a number of colour etchings printed at Eugène Delâtre and inspired by the maritime world. Knighted by decree of 16 May 1910, he was promoted to officer of the Legion of Honour on 28 February 1924. Owner of a studio on the top floor of the private mansion at 93 rue Ampère, he died on 11 August 1924 at his home at 110 boulevard Pereire in Paris 17th and was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery.