Marcel Arnaud (1877-1956), La Forêt, Oil On Cardboard, Signed, Framed

After studying with Louis Maistre at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and apprenticing as a decorator with Apy & Parton, he moved to Paris at the age of 18. There, he worked for Capezat et Thibé, designed theater sets for Jusseaume and studied the Old Masters at the Louvre.
He made the acquaintance of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle.
Nostalgic for his hometown, he returned to Marseille, where he married in 1904. In 1914, he was appointed professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Aix-en-Provence, then director from 1917 to 1946. At the same time, he was deputy curator of the city's Musée Granet in 1922, then curator from 1926 to 1947.
At the same time, Marcel Arnaud refused to sell all his own painted works to the famous art dealer Ambroise Vollard, who had asked him to do so by mutual agreement. His friend John Rewald supported him on this point, writing: "Marcel Arnaud brings to painting the Cézannienne continuity that time has not left to Paul Cézanne". The numerous exchanges of letters between Paul Cézanne and Marcel Arnaud are in the hands of John Rewald.