Eugène Alluaud, Creuse Valley, Fauvist Painting, Crozant School

Landscape of the Creuse Valley by Eugène Alluaud, oil on canvas monogrammed E.A. lower right. Eugène Alluaud did not always sign his works; his monogram is often found on several of his paintings.
Montparnasse carved wooden frame.
Canvas dimensions 46x54.5 cm.
Total dimensions, with frame, 65x74 cm.

Eugène Alluaud, born in Saint-Martin-Terressus (Haute-Vienne) on 25 March 1866 and died in Crozant (Creuse) on 27 July 1947, was a French painter and ceramist.
His father Amédée, an enlightened art lover and collector, welcomed Corot to his château in Ribagnac on several occasions. A close friend of Adrien Dubouché, he supported the painters of Crozant. Upon his death, his friend and painter Charles Donzel gave the young Eugène advice on painting.
Alluaud received a solid academic training at the Académie Julian in Paris, under the direction of William Bouguereau. However, it was his encounter with the artistic milieu of his time that defined his style. A close friend of Armand Guillaumin, he quickly abandoned academicism in favour of an Impressionist, then Post-Impressionist approach, marked by a search for pure colour and structure.
From 1891 onwards, Alluaud settled in Crozant. He became one of the pillars of what would come to be known as the ‘Crozant School’. His work is a celebration of the rugged landscapes of the Limousin region. He excelled at capturing atmospheric variations, from morning mists to flamboyant sunsets over the heaths. His technique evolved from a divided touch similar to Guillaumin's to a more synthetic and vigorous style, where the pictorial material took on its full importance. His landscapes were never simple copies of nature; they were structured by a poetic vision and a solid rigour of construction.
He exhibited regularly in galleries, at Dalpayrat in Limoges and at Durand-Ruel and Drouant in Paris. He was a regular participant in the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne. At the 1900 Universal Exhibition, he decorated the ‘Palais de la Danse’ and the Grandes Marques restaurant pavilion. President of the jury for the painting section at the Salon d'Automne in 1928, he himself received the grand prize at the French Exhibition in Cairo in 1929. His works are now preserved in prestigious public collections, notably at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Limoges and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.