Eugène Le Poittevin - Return Of The Fisherman

Drawing by Eugène Le Poittevin (1806-1870) depicting the return of a fisherman.

Work signed with monogram lower right.

Dimensions: 23.6 x 28.5 cm

Naval painter, "inventor of Étretat" in the words of Alexandre Dumas, Le Poittevin prefigured Impressionism. After an established official career and numerous paintings exhibited at the Salon, he devoted a significant part of his output to Normandy. This was particularly true of Étretat, then a small fishing village, which he helped to introduce to his friends among the Parisian artistic elite. While Baudelaire mocked this painter for "painting too well", his bold choice of framing, reminiscent of Japanese prints, his setting aside of romanticism and the primary importance given to activities and the human figure made him a player in modernity.

In 1872, shortly after his death, his friend the painter Eugène Bellangé wrote of his drawings: "Most of these sketches, full of jets, elegance and charm, yield nothing to the painted studies. Many are masterfully handled, and with the rarest facility."