Louise Germain Painting. Joseph Ravaisou. 1908

After a childhood in Bandol (Var), where he took drawing and music lessons, Joseph Ravaisou became a schoolteacher in 1882. At the same time, he worked as a journalist, but his libertarian views forced him to leave this position. He then became conductor at the Alhambra in Marseille in 1886, but the establishment's bankruptcy in 1894 sent him to Morocco, where he became editor-in-chief of Le Réveil du Maroc for three years. He returned to France, where he became a sailor, then was admitted to the drawing school in Aix-en-Provence, the city where he settled, and where he studied under Joseph Marc Gibert. In 1900, he went to the Universal Exhibition in Paris and discovered the Impressionists, who would influence his work. A fervent admirer of Cézanne, he frequented and worked with him from 1899 to 1902. Until the end of his life, he worked in Aix-en-Provence, sharing his studio with Louise Germain, an animal painter. Joseph Ravaisou painted the Aix countryside, which was his favorite subject (Bibémus quarries, the banks of the Arc River, the Zola Dam).He painted it on sunny days, with vibrant colors and thick, impressionistic brushstrokes. Some of his works can be seen in Aix (Granet Museum), Marseille, Martigues, and Paris.