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: Eugène Galien-Laloue (1854-1941)
“La Madeleine, Paris”
Gouache on paper, signed
23 x 31 cm.
Acknowledged as one of the finest painters of city street life, Eugène Galien-Laloue captured the essence of the Belle-Epoche at the turn of the nineteenth century in his Impressionistic portrayal of the fashionable Parisian boulevards. His effervescent architectural scenes with their horse drawn carriages, trolley carts and first omnibuses are not only of historical interest but also of superb artistic merit. Gouache was his favoured medium though he also worked in oil, pure watercolour and proved a very able draughtsman and engraver. The eldest of nine children he was born in Montmartre, Paris on 11th December 1854 to French Italian parents and later amended his name in tribute to his teacher Charles Laloue under whom he studied in 1877. His training however began much earlier whilst watching his father work as a theatrical set designer. When his father died in 1870, Eugène aged 16 had to leave school; his mother found him a job in a local notary’s office, which he did not enjoy. The following year he enlisted in the French army and took part at the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Though he was too old to participate in W.W.I. his earlier military experiences inspired him to make a number of poignant studies of soldiers in action.
In 1874 he began working for the rapidly expanding French Railway, who employed him to make illustrations of the new sections of its network. This provided the young Eugène the opportunity to travel from Paris to the provinces, where having completed his railway paintings he would then paint the surrounding landscapes for pleasure. Throughout his life he continued to paint landscape views especially in Normandy, Seine-et-Marne, the surroundings of Barbizon and at one time lived at Fontainebleau. In contrast to his landscapes, often painted during the spring and summer, his Parisian scenes generally depicted the city during autumn or winter. And though his work combined great spontaneity with architectural exactitude Galien-Laloue preferred to make preliminary sketches in-situ and then finish his work in the solitude of his studio. He lived a very simple life and did not enjoy travelling far from home and thus postcards or the increasingly popular medium of photography often inspired his views of other cities and countries.
His favourite subject however was the bustling Parisian street life, which proved as popular during his lifetime as they are today, not only among French but also American and English collectors and visitors to Paris. As one of the first to popularise street scene paintings Galien-Laloue influenced many subsequent artists of whom the most renowned were Antoine Blanchard and Edouard Cortes. He however never sought fame nor academic recognition even though from 1877 he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Paris Salon and later at Angers, Saint Quentin, Dijon, Orléans, Versailles, Roubaix, Bordeaux, Monte Carlo and elsewhere. He worked under several pseudonyms namely Liévin, J. Liévin, Eugène Dupuy, L Dupuy, Galiany and M Lenoir. Why so many is not known, but possibly because he had contracts with several galleries and also sold his work privately.
He had four daughters (two of whom died young) and outlived three wives (all sisters, who had lived next door to him) and spent his latter years with his daughter Flore, the only member of his family whom he trusted, who eventually ran his life, buying his supplies and organising his professional activities. While being evacuated to Bordeaux in 1940 he broke his arm, which meant that he could no longer paint. He died a few months later on 18th April 1941 aged 83 at Flore’s country home at Chérence, Val d’Oise. Today his work can be found among many private and public collections including the Musées des Beaux-Arts at Louviers, La Rochelle and at Mulhous
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