"young Fisherman" By Achille Granchi-taylor - Brittany

Granchi-Taylor was born in Lyon to an Italian traveling salesman and an English mother. He studied at the Cormon studio alongside Toulouse-Lautrec and Émile Bernard. A friend of Gauguin’s, he stayed in Pont-Aven at the now-famous Gloanec boarding house, where he met Moret, Chamaillard, Maufra, Jourdan, and O’Conor. Beginning in 1888, he regularly submitted works to the Salon des Artistes Français. After Pont-Aven, he continued his career in Concarneau. While many of his painter friends depicted a Brittany in full bloom, with its traditional costumes and folklore, Granchi-Taylor devoted himself to painting its true face, emphasizing the dignity and nobility of a people struggling with a life that was at times close to poverty. His distinctive technique involves using charcoal enhanced with a thin oil paint wash diluted with turpentine. The result is remarkable; the fishermen’s protective oilskins, coated with linseed oil, are strikingly lifelike.