André Prugent (1882-1965) Woodland Path In Chancelade, Périgueux, Dordogne

André PRUGENT
(Périgueux 1882 - 1965)
Woodland Path at Chancelade
Oil on panel
H. 46 cm; W. 55 cm
Signed lower right. Signed and titled on the reverse

Provenance: Private collection, Périgord

During his childhood in Périgueux, the capital of Périgord, André Prugent attended the city's drawing school, directed at the end of the 19th century by Jean-Louis Daniel. Quickly becoming his favorite student, this leading figure of the Périgueux school guided him, following his rapid progress, to the Salon des Artistes Français where he exhibited for the first time at the age of 18. After the mobilization of 1914-1918, Prugent returned to his home region where he was regularly accompanied on outings to paint en plein air by Emile Chaumont, André Saigne, Gustave Chérifel, and others. This younger generation generally met in the afternoon, while Prugent left the management of the family shop to his wife. This shop was none other than the supply center for local painters, stocking the colors, canvases, and other materials necessary for their art. The windows of this establishment, located on Rue de la Clarté in Périgueux, also served as a permanent exhibition space for the painter's latest works. Enamored with the nearby Isle Valley, the names of Chancelade, Champcevinel, and Bassillac appear frequently in his compositions. The very simple supports that André Prugent used often defined the style of this artist, whom some compared to Cézanne during his lifetime. Thick canvas weaves and flexible cardboard, combined with broad and sometimes very thick brushstrokes, gave his works a vibrant character. In 1929, he was admitted as a member of the Société des Artistes Français and continued to exhibit at the Salon until the eve of the Second World War. However, he continued to exhibit in various French cities, and his local work culminated in a retrospective exhibition at the Palais des Fêtes in Périgueux, where oils, pastels, watercolors, and wood engravings were displayed side by side in 1965, the year before his death. We have noticed several works signed and dated in English. This remains unexplained, and we invite you to contact us if you have any information that could shed light on this.

Paths are Prugent's playground, where he practices the movements of his brushes, seeking the contrasts of light filtering through the foliage, the shapes of branches embracing the path. The green tones so dear to the painter are punctuated here with blue, a color found in the work of most artists of the so-called "Périgueux school."