Emile Chaumont (1877–1927) Riverside On The Dordogne In The Périgord?

Emile CHAUMONT
(Périgueux 1877–1927)
Riverbank
Oil on panel
H. 33.5 cm; W. 46.5 cm
Signed lower right

Provenance: Private collection, Périgueux

The Saint-Georges neighborhood of Périgueux was the birthplace and home of this poetic painter. After beginning his studies in the classical tradition, he was forced to leave high school upon the death of his parents to pursue a livelihood. His older brother and guardian, aware of his strong passion for drawing, arranged for him to apprentice in lithography at the Dupont printing house. He greatly appreciated this opportunity and advanced in his hometown until he became a master craftsman at the Ronteix company.

Drafted for the duration of the war beginning in 1915, Emile Chaumont distinguished himself through “his remarkable energy and enthusiasm,” returning from the front with the Croix de Guerre. Upon his return, he decided to move to Bordeaux and join the Pech printing house. Although he had certainly painted before, it was truly during this period that he devoted himself to his passion in all his spare time. A student of Léon Félix from the Périgord and Professor Albert Laurens—whose influence is evident—Chaumont nevertheless developed his art based on his own ideas.

He followed Jean-Louis Daniel to Corrèze, traveled extensively throughout the Périgord, and also explored the Landes region of Gironde. His landscapes, always luminous and featuring a full range of colors, were a genuine success and even earned an honorable mention at the Salon des Artistes Français. In addition to these landscapes, Émile Chaumont produced numerous staged portraits and still lifes of remarkable quality.

He died at the age of only fifty in the Saint-Georges neighborhood where he was born, at the home of his brother Léopold Chaumont, editor of the newspaper *L’Avenir de la Dordogne*, after a long battle with an incurable illness. The city of Périgueux dedicated a posthumous exhibition to him in 1946, which was praised by critics, and named a street in his native neighborhood after the artist.

This charming painting depicts a riverside scene, most likely in the Périgord region, although there is no evidence to confirm this. A simple sketch painted from life, this work was created early in the morning or late at night, giving the trees along the banks a dark, backlit appearance.