Provençal Landscape - Watercolor By émille Appay

Watercolor signed lower right by Émile Appay (1876-1935) depicting a Provençal landscape. Image size: 28 x 36 cm. Émile Appay was born on June 2, 1876, in Saint-Just (Eure), but spent his childhood in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. His grandfather and his father, Charles Appay, were lithographic printers, which explains his passion for art. He studied under Henri Harpignies (1819-1916) in his studio on the corner of Rue de l'Abbaye and Rue Furstenberg. He became friends with Harpignies and often met him on the French Riviera, for example, in Menton in 1906 and in Antibes in 1910. Emile Appay was also a student of Paul Lecomte (1842-1920), who, through the teaching of Emile Lambinet, rediscovered the tradition of Corot and Charles Daubigny, but skillfully rejuvenated it with the colors of Impressionism. He also more clearly demonstrates this influence of Claude Monet in his watercolors. During the First World War, he was mobilized into the 205th Infantry Regiment (205th RI) and returned safe and sound. He made numerous drawings of the combat zones, particularly in the Aisne region where he was stationed in 1916 in the area of Faucoucourt or Estrées (Battle of the Somme). But he was deeply affected by the loss of his brother André, born in 1891, a painter like himself, an excellent draftsman and watercolorist, who signed his works "A. Driant," and who died during the war at the age of 23, on November 23, 1914, in Bucy-le-Long (Aisne). Before 1914, Emile Appay often visited André Derain, who had his studio at 13 rue Bonaparte in Paris; he shared with him his passion for cycling, which they regularly practiced together. He also spent time with Maurice de Vlaminck, with whom, before the war, he would cycle from Paris to Rouen, passing through the hills of Rolleboise and Gaillon. He also enjoyed fishing and often painted streams or fishing scenes with his friends. He had many friends in the world of theater and film: Michel Simon, Madeleine Renaud, Louis Jouvet, Georges and Ludmilla Pitoëff, Alice Reichen, from the Pitoëff troupe (wife of the painter Auguste Clergé), Yvonne Hébert, and many others. Between 1922 and 1933, he accompanied Georges Pitoëff's troupe on its numerous tours throughout Europe, helping to create theater sets, occasionally replacing an ailing actor, and producing many watercolors of cities and landscapes. His stage name was alternately Vernon, the name of his wife's birthplace (Vernon in the Eure department), near Saint-Just, his own birthplace, and Appay, his family name. He thus found himself very often in the company of Auguste Clergé, and also René Mathis, the stage manager of the "Troupe Pitoëff," whose son married his daughter. Emile Appay exhibited his paintings in various Parisian galleries: Galerie Georges Petit, Galerie Pierre Le Chevallier, Galerie Jules Gautier, and Galerie P. Hénaut. He also exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1910 to 1920. Source: https://brugal-antiquites.com/emile-appay-un-peintre-francais-vedutiste