Fernand Piet (paris, 1869 - Paris, 1942) - “vannes - La Place Du Marché” 1903.

"The market of the Public Weight Square of Vannes", dated 1903

Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right.
Dimensions: 52 x 75 cm, with frame 75 x 97.5 cm

Fernand Piet paints the daily life of the Parisian life and that of the Breton village countryside, from Brest to Loctudy via Vannes. This table illustrates a market scene on the Public Weight Square in Vannes. From the cobblestones to the front of the café des arts, the mood is for work and discussion. In the foreground, the hands are stretched out, the bodies are lowered. The Breton hats are barely indicated, the button is free and raised. The viewer appreciates the fruits, vegetables, the bustle, and the quintessential picturesque scene. This painting should be compared to its counterpart, “Le Marché à Brest”, 1899, historically preserved by the prestigious Chtchoukine collection. Fernand Piet is a painter, lithographer and draftsman of the turn of the century, at the dawn of the avant-garde. From 1890, he frequented the world of Belle Époque Paris, whose most significant painters were Bonnat, Cormon, Meissonier, Rochegrosse and Breton. He is from Impressionism and Fauvism, frequents Toulouse-Lautrec, Raoul Dufy and Georges Rouault at the Atelier of the painter Eugène Cormon and Alfred Roll, known as the Académie de la Palette. He was also trained at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, at the studio of Eugène Carrière. Subsequently, he acquired fame and recognition. The painter held his studio at 38, boulevard Rochechouart, exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français and the Salon des Indépendants (from 1893 to 1925), of which he was vice-president in 1905 with his friend Paul Signac. The painter made history: he participated in the exhibition of the Viennese Secession in 1899, he was awarded a Bronze medal at the Universal
Exhibition in Paris, 1900.

Bibliography:. Erich Steïngraber, Fernand Piet, Leben & Werk, Munich, Bruckman, 1974. Armand Dayot, L'art et les Artistes, Tome II, October 1905-March 1906, Paris, 1906

Museums: In France, Museum of Fine Arts in Rennes. Neue Pinakothek in Munich, Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Shchukin collection.