Oscar Chauvaux - Le Faouët - The Stairs Of Sainte-barbe Chapel - Pastel - Brittany

"I only like soft, nostalgic, mysterious hues, full of dreams and poetry, and I can only find these in Brittany". These words from Oscar Chauvaux, the naturalized Belgian-French artist who fell in love with Brittany in the early 20th century find their perfect illustration in this pastel.

The artist repeats this composition in several of his works. The same view, in autumn and painted on canvas, can be seen on the painting recently donated to the Musée du Faouet. Other painters who settled in Le Fouet also depicted this fairy-tale staircase. Henri Rivière is a good example (see illustration below right)

Oscar Chauvaux was born in Brussels on March 19, 1874. He moved to Paris in 1899 and joined the studio of painter Gabriel Guay, a teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts. Chauvaux, a member of Les Artistes Français, exhibited widely in Paris, as well as in Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid and Tokyo.

Chauvaux's work is still very much in demand today.

In 1934, he founded the Musée de Locronan, which preserves a number of his works. Other institutions preserve his paintings. Among them are the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Brest, the Musée de la Piscine in Roubaix, the Musée de Niort, etc.

He was a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts.

He was a member of the Société des Pastellistes Français, with which he exhibited every year