Market In Concarneau - Pierre De Belay - Brittany

Dimensions:
unframed 45 x 55 cm,
framed 55 x 64 cm.

Oil on panel, signed lower right.

Pierre de Belay (1890-1947):
Born in 1890 in Quimper, Pierre de Belay is among the most talented artists of his generation. Close to Max Jacob, and a witness to the vibrant art world of Montmartre and later Montparnasse, de Belay navigated the major movements of modernity, favoring a realistic approach that established a distinctive and recognizable style. Widely assimilating the achievements of expressionism, fauvism and even cubism, he multiplies subjects that revisit the great themes of Breton painting as much as he focuses on exploring the shady world of Montparnasse cafes or the legal news that shook French society between the two wars. His art, far from remaining static, reinvents itself according to his encounters or his interests. Thus, his regular practice of engraving led him in the late 1930s to invent a unique pictorial style: the trellis. Pierre de Belay's prolific art initially flourished in the field of easel painting, but also achieved great success in large-scale decorative work, notably the famous ensemble for the dining room of the Ker-Moor hotel in Bénodet (1923). Drawn to the decorative arts, he also produced numerous studies for tapestry projects, book illustrations, and costume designs (particularly for the Ballets Suédois). A complete artist, Pierre de Belay was above all a champion of color. Thick, delicate, flat or zebra-striped, the brushstroke radiates pure pigments that enchant each of his compositions. In contrast to a whole generation of artists (Vlaminck, Derain, La Patellière, Dunoyer de Segonzac, etc.) who plunged into the vertigo of a dark and tormented painting, he claimed the legibility of his compositions, adopting for this a palette of bright and shimmering colors.