André Artigue, Pastel, Notre-dame-des-neiges At La Féclaz, Savoie, 1920

André Artigue, Pastel, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges at La Féclaz, Savoie, 1920

Mixed media on paper — graphite pencil heightened with white pastel —, signed lower left André Artigue, titled and signed on the reverse in pencil « Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, La Féclaz / A. Artigue ». A Savoyard work, probably from the 1920s-1930s, after the artist settled in Chambéry.

Born in Paris in 1879 to Savoyard parents, André Artigue received his first drawing lessons from his father, a teacher. Music won out at first: a baritone encouraged by the singer Nellie Melba, he set his sights on the opéra-comique and performed as a soloist at the Schola Cantorum. Drawing never left him, however. He studied under Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, then exhibited in Paris and in North America. In 1919 he left the capital to travel through Brittany, Provence and other provinces, before settling in Chambéry in 1921. From then on he reserved his submissions for regional salons, where he met with success. Influenced by Japanese art, he stands out for his landscapes with hushed atmospheres and buried villages, where the trees bend under the weight of the snow — the vein to which this drawing belongs.

The subject: the chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, on the plateau of La Féclaz, in the Bauges massif above Chambéry. The small building seen at an angle, its porch on columns, its bell-cote capped with snow, its roof heavily laden; on the left, an edge of fir trees treated in light hatching; in the foreground, the track of a path dug into the powder snow.

The whole effect lies in the economy of means. The grey-blue paper, left bare, creates the low sky and the saturated air; the graphite carries only the framework of the chalet and the silhouette of the trees; the white pastel, applied in a scattering of small round touches over the whole surface, depicts the falling snow, a few heavier strokes marking the snowdrifts and the raking light. The grey, white and pale ochre monochrome, the lateral composition and the silence of the motif clearly show the lesson of the Japanese print.

Presented under glass in a wooden frame with a wide grey-green painted flat, edged with a gilt moulding with a rounded profile. Back sealed with the original kraft paper, bearing the handwritten inscription.

Condition: the frame is dusty and slightly soiled, with the gilding rubbed in places and small losses and spots of dirt on the flat; a few light foxing marks and scattered spots in the paper, discreet and without affecting the reading of the work. The drawing is intact and the signature perfectly legible. An intimate format, ideal for a chalet or a mountain interior.

Dimensions:
• Frame, overall: 37 x 29 cm (14.6 x 11.4 in)
• Drawing, sight size: 26 x 18 cm (10.2 x 7.1 in)
• Frame width, flat and moulding: about 5.5 cm (2.2 in)

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