Jules-louis Moréteau, "mountain Front Near Bomboli," Landscape, Guinea, 1936, Oil On Wood

This work depicts a Guinean landscape, painted in 1936, located near Bomboli in the Fouta-Djallon region of Guinea. It is signed, dated, and labeled with the location on the back. The almond-green silhouettes of the trees stand out against a mountainous background of gray, white, and blue. Here again, we see the signature style of these itinerant works by Jules-Louis Moréteau, who was commissioned by the government to depict French colonial territories. The successive views offer these landscapes a multitude of possible perspectives.

Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, winner of the Prix de Rome in 1926, and an exhibitor at the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Vincennes, he also received government grants that sent him to paint the landscapes of French colonial territories. Originally from Bordeaux, the artist also painted a few landscapes of Italy—and many works depicting the Maghreb and West Africa.

Beyond the artist’s technical skill, a palette of tones runs through his work and demonstrates a genuine talent for depicting the regions he visited—their landscapes, light, and sometimes local cultures—both faithfully and with feeling. (Feel free to browse the artist’s other works that we have posted online).

The artwork is framed and in very good condition. Its unframed dimensions are as follows: 27 cm wide, 22 cm high.

Here is a brief biography of the artist:
Jules Louis Moréteau (1886–1956) was a traveling painter born in Bordeaux. He was a renowned painter associated with the artistic movements known as Orientalism and Africanism. He received his artistic training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His teachers were Gabriel Ferrier, François Flameng, and Charles Fouqueray. Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1926, he painted scenes of Rabat, Safi, and Mogador. In 1935, he won a travel grant to French West Africa and visited Senegal, Sudan, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast. He exhibited with the Société des Artistes Français and participated in the Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931. A paragraph is devoted to him in the book by Lynne Thornton, *em* *Les africanistes Peintres voyageurs* , published by ACR.