Joseph Lépine (1867–1943) Vase Of Lilacs In A Provençal Landscape

Joseph LÉPINE
(Rochefort 1867 – Paris 1943)
Vase with a Bouquet of Lilacs in Front of a Landscape
Oil on stiff cardboard mounted on a cross-frame
H. 72 cm ; W. 86 cm
Monogrammed lower left. Signed lower right
circa 1923

Joseph Lépine soon settled in Bordeaux, where he studied under Louis-Alexandre Cabié, a landscape painter well known in the region and a mentor to many artists of the early 20th century. Despite his teacher’s warnings, he wished to confront the Parisian modernity of the late 19th century and discover Impressionist and even Post-Impressionist styles. There, he became a student of the Neoclassical painters Courtois and Girardot, both former students of the great Jean-Léon Gérôme.

Beginning in 1897, he exhibited at the Salon, where he submitted landscapes of Provence. He became a member in 1905 of the Society of Independent Artists, the same year that the Fauvists Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck participated and made a name for themselves at the Salon d’Automne. A government purchase from the 1908 Salon des Indépendants, Vieille boutique, now housed at the Musée de Menton, marked the official launch of his career. That same year, he exhibited in London at the Royal Albert Hall, following an invitation from the Allied Artist's Association, which demonstrated the painter’s distinction within the international art scene. In Paris, the artist met a number of well-known painters of the time in the Montmartre and Montparnasse neighborhoods, notably Matisse and Signac.

His painting is based in particular on his approach to texture, light, and color, whose juxtapositions create a play of saturation and composition through visible areas of unpainted space. After World War I, Lépine returned more frequently to his native region of origin, where he painted landscapes around Bordeaux and as he traveled upriver along the Dordogne to the charming landscapes of the Lower Corrèze. Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, Argentat, but also the Lot region with the built-up cliffs of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.

The city of Bordeaux and the French government acquired two of his works depicting a landscape near Verdelais and a view of the Church of Saint-Michel in Bordeaux in 1939 and 1941.

Considered today as a very important figure in Bordeaux painting, and the only “Post-Impressionist” of the Girondine school, he holds his own on the national stage. A retrospective exhibition at the Musée d’Eysines was dedicated to him in 2021.

The large oil painting we are presenting is believed to have been painted in Provence around 1923. Another work depicting the same subject and slightly larger in size is known to Lépine specialist Dr. Philippe Greig, and its date appears to be accurate.
This vase filled with a bouquet of lilacs rests on a table on a terrace, overlooking a wooded landscape from which the red roof of a house rises.