Crozier Mountain Landscape Painting The Alps La Meïje Snow Summit Signed

J. Crozier, La Meije and alpine church, oil on canvas double-sided circa 1930

Oil on canvas double-sided, signed J. Crozier, circa 1930. The main side depicts La Meije, a major peak in the Écrins massif, in the Hautes-Alpes, at the heart of the Pays de La Grave and the upper Romanche valley. The reverse shows a view of an Alpine village church, most likely located in the vicinity of La Grave, Les Terrasses, Le Chazelet or Villar-d'Arêne, villages and hamlets directly linked to the La Meije landscape.

Beautiful composition depicting the summit in cold light, between glaciers, rocky ridges and bluish valleys. The material is laid down frankly, with visible impasto in the snow and skies, giving the whole a fine pictorial vigor.

This work is part of the great tradition of mountain painters active in the French Alps at the turn of the 1900s-1930s. It can be situated in the aesthetic neighborhood of Marcel Wibault for the taste for high snow-covered massifs, Charles-Henri Contencin for the clear construction of peaks and glaciers, and Eugène Abrate for that alpine sensibility combining direct observation, cold light and structured reliefs. One also thinks of the painters of the Dauphiné, Oisans, Savoie and Mont-Blanc regions, for whom the mountain becomes an autonomous subject, between naturalistic landscape, plein-air painting and decorative vision.

Good overall condition see photos

Canvas dimensions / view: 55 x 46 cm, 72 cm x 65 cm total.