Cf Musėe De Cognac Olivier Flornoy Painting Painting Flowers

Olivier Flornoy Birth: Born in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique, city) on March 4, 1894 Died: deceased Saint-Brice (Charente , city) in 1962 Biography: This painter was a pupil of Ernest Laurent, Jules Adler and Louis Biloul at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He exhibited in Paris, at the Salon des Artistes Français since 1922, obtaining numerous distinctions: silver medal 1925, gold medal 1931, hors-competition 1932. He was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1933. (Bénézit, p. 532) This simple, sensitive and endearing man was a personality in the Cognac artistic world. A pupil of Ernest Laurent, Jules ADLER and Billoul at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, as well as of Bergès, he has appeared very regularly since 1922 at the Paris Salon where his paintings, in particular his still lifes, earned him numerous awards including the Silver Medal (1925), the Morocco Prize (1929), the Deldebat de Gonsalva Prize (1930), the Robert de Rougé Prize (1931), the Gold Medal (1931) which put him out of competition. In 1954, he finally received the John Hemming Fry Prize. A veteran of the two world wars, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (1933). Flornoy had a strong taste for colors which burst like a fanfare on most of his paintings. He only softened his palette to make the landscapes of Charente shine. He painted true, whether picturesque figures of the "Land of cognac", gleaming flowers, still lifes where "brass" sparkle. A local painter, he admirably knew how to render the almost mysterious atmosphere of the cellars, as evidenced by his two works which are in the Museum "Un pressoir" and "Une distillerie". But he also left compositions of a mystical nature in which he put all his soul into creating beautiful figures with striking expression, as can be seen in the church of Saint-Brice.