Franck Bail (1858 - 1924, Lyon), Still Life With Ham, 1895, Charcoal, Signed

Franck Bail (1858 – 1924)
"Un jambonneau", Still life with ham, 1895
250 x 324 mm
Charcoal
Signed lower right “Bail Franck”

Exhibited at the Salon des Artistes français in 1895, under number 80 (see photographs)

Good condition
The drawing is not framed.

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This charcoal drawing was exhibited at the Salon in 1895 by Franck Bail, an artist from a dynasty of painters in the city of Lyon, specialized in genre scenes and especially still life. Faithful to the tradition of this pictorial genre that is both realistic and poetic, the artist here takes the liberty of expressing himself only in the beautiful and deep shades of charcoal, certain that the amateur of painting and drawing will be able to find in this work the reflections, the nuances and the particularity of each object represented.

In this medium format sheet, the perfect composition makes it possible to balance both the distribution of light, of the drawing, of the reserve of the paper as well as the intensity of the charcoal. While he could have left the background empty, the artist decides, with a sure hand, to play on the hatching and the movements of his charcoal to bring out this tall jar (which evokes the silence and poetry of Giorgio Morandi) .

The ham (or "jambonneau" in French) that has been partially cut brings the more rustic element to this still life. This object which remains balanced on the plate creates a diagonal in the composition, which is repeated right next to it by the fork, placed there, as if nothing had happened.

The towel in the foreground, which protrudes from the table and is held only by the large plate, is another echo of the pictorial tradition of still life. Immaculate, with a white that echoes the small cloves of garlic as well as the luminous reflection in the glass jar, this piece of fabric perfectly completes the silent balance of this composition.

This drawing was certainly also exhibited in 1898 at the Salon de la société lyonnaise des Beaux-Arts (see photographs).