The Aix Countryside, 1922 - Joseph Ravaisou (1865–1925)

Watercolor depicting the Aix countryside, 1922, signed by Joseph Ravaisou,
born on November 11, 1865, in Bandol and died on December 22, 1925, in Aix-en-Provence.
Private collection.
In perfect condition.
Dimensions: Frame: W 61.5 cm x H 50 cm.
Watercolor: W 44 cm x H 30 cm.
History: 
After a childhood in Bandol where he took drawing and music lessons, Joseph Ravaisou
became a schoolteacher in 1882. At the same time, he worked as a journalist, but his libertarian
views forced him to leave that position. He then became conductor at the Alhambra
in Marseille in 1886, but the establishment’s bankruptcy in 1894 sent him to Morocco, where he served
for three years as editor-in-chief of “Révéil du Maroc.”
He returned to France, where he became a sailor, then was admitted to the art school in Aix-en-Provence,
the city where he settled and where he studied under Joseph Marc-Gibert. In 1900, he met Paul
Cézanne during a visit to an exhibition dedicated to Impressionist and
Pointillist painters. This encounter would change his career and inspire him to devote himself to painting. He
became friends with Paul Cézanne, with whom he painted at the Château Noir. Cézanne seemed to appreciate
Ravaisou’s work. Louis Giniès reports that "Cézanne was enthralled by his paintings and
even envied him for painting much better than he did.
'How do you do it? How do you do it?' he would murmur."