04 Painting, Streets of Paris, by the artists of the time, Part 18 - With Footnotes

JEAN DUFY, (french 1888-1964) 
PARIS - PLACE CLICHY
Oil on canvas 
15 1/4 x 18 1/2 in. (38.7 x 47cm)

Private collection

"Paris - Place Clichy" depicts the major intersection that joins the eighth, ninth, seventeenth, and eighteenth arrondissements in northwest Paris. At the center of the bustling place stands a statue of the sculptor and artist Amédée Doublemard, surrounded by a blur of horse drawn carriages and small vehicles. The angular rooftops of the grands bâtiments appear almost as ship masts, slicing across the rich blue sky. The newly constructed Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, completed in 1914, stands sentry in the distance, presiding over the neighborhood from the highest point in the city. Jean Dufy's quick, strong brushstrokes and confident use of color are a hallmark of his modernist style. More on this painting

Jean Dufy (b Le Havre, France, 1888; d La Boissière, 1964) French Painter. Following his service in the military, from 1910-1912, Jean Dufy relocated to Paris. Inspired by the work of Braque and Picasso, Dufy created watercolors that expressed a heightened understanding of color and light. In the mid-1920s, Jean Dufy became captivated by the music of the time, such as Darius Millaud and Francis Poulenc, and incorporated this interest into his artwork. While depicting orchestral and musical subjects, Dufy later became enchanted by the coast of Northern France and began to create majestic and effecting landscapes. Throughout the 1950s Dufy explored Western Europe and North America, but inevitably returned to his watercolors and oils of Paris. Just two months after the death of his wife, Ismérie, Jean Dufy died in 1964 in La Boissiere. More Jean Dufy

JEAN DUFY, (french 1888-1964) 

AUX COURSES

Oil on canvas 

13 x 18 1/4 in. (33.02 x 46.4cm) 

Private collection

A favorite subject of the artist, "Aux Courses" captures the intensity of a horse race, likely at the famous Longchamp Racecourse located in the Bois de Boulogne to the west of Paris. Dufy's characteristic long, sharp lines are repeated in the sweeping trees and concourse of the covered stadium seating, as well as in the slanting figures of the horses and jockeys. The overall effect creates a sense of dramatic urgency in the scene, a dynamism that transports the viewer to the sidelines of the race. Dufy returned to this theme frequently over his career, fascinated by both the animal and the sport. More on this painting

JEAN DUFY, (french 1888-1964), see above

ÉDOUARD LÉON CORTÈS, (french 1882-1969) 

RUE DE LA PAIX

Oil on canvas 

13 x 18 in. (33x 45.7cm)

Private collection

The rue de la Paix is a fashionable shopping street in the center of Paris. Located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, running north from Place Vendôme and ending at the Opéra Garnier, it is best known for its jewellers, such as the shop opened by Cartier in 1898. Charles Frederick Worth was the first to open a couture house in the rue de la Paix. Many buildings on the street are inspired in design by the hôtels particuliers of Place Vendôme.

The street was opened in 1806 from Place Vendôme on the orders of Napoleon I, part of the Napoleonic program to open the heart of the Right Bank of Paris, both towards the undeveloped western suburbs and to the north. Creating the new street required the demolition of the ancient Convent of the Capucins. At first named rue Napoléon, its name was changed in 1814, after the Bourbon Restoration, to celebrate the newly arranged peace. More on rue de la Paix

Edouard Léon Cortès (1882–1969) was a French post-impressionist artist of French and Spanish ancestry. He is known as "Le Poete Parisien de la Peinture" or "the Parisian Poet of Painting" because of his diverse Paris cityscapes in a variety of weather and night settings. Cortes was born in Lagny-sur-Marne, about twenty miles east of Paris. His father, Antonio Cortès, had been a painter for the Spanish Royal Court.

Although Cortès was a pacifist, when war came close to his native village he was compelled to enlist in a French Infantry Regiment at the age of 32. As a contact agent Cortès was wounded by a bayonet, evacuated to a military hospital, and awarded the Croix de Guerre. After recovery he was the reassigned to utilize his artistic talent to sketch enemy positions. Later in life his convictions led him to refuse the Légion d'Honneur from the French Government. In 1919 he was demobilized.

Cortès lived a simple life amid a close circle of friends. He died on November 28, 1969, in Lagny, and has a street named in his honor. More on Edouard Léon Cortès

 ELISÉE MACLET, (1881 - 1962)

Rue Saint-Vincent, Montmartre, c. 1924

 Oil on canvas
21 1/2 by 18 in. (54.6 by 45.7 cm)

Private collection

Montmartre is a large hill in Paris's 18th arrondissement. It gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank in the northern section of the city. Montmartre is primarily known for its artistic history, the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit, and as a nightclub district. The other, older, church on the hill is Saint Pierre de Montmartre, which claims to be the location at which the Jesuit order of priests was founded.

Near the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the twentieth, during the Belle Époque, many artists had studios or worked in or around Montmartre, including Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, and Vincent van Gogh. Montmartre is also the setting for several hit films.

Rue Saint-Vincent is at the crossroads with Rue des Saules; one of the most charming in Montmartre and worthy of the countryside, with its steps, steep slope running alongside the cemetery, and area of greenery towards Sacré-Coeur. Hidden behind an acacia tree, the Cabaret du Lapin Agile was popular during the Belle Époque with artists such as Carco, Dorgelès, Mac Orlan, Picasso and Vlaminck. More on Rue Saint-Vincent

Jules-Émile Élisée Maclet is famous for his Paris street scenes, much in the tradition that Utrillo would soon follow. Indeed, born in Lihons-en-Santerre, Picardie (April 12, 1881), the artist began his career while still a choirboy. He moved to Montmartre in 1906, after his mother's death, where he began painting the Montmartre landscape, anticipating the themes that Utrillo would eventually depict, as well as other colorful scenes of the city (and elsewhere in France and Italy). He would have had more works extant today, but he was institutionalized much of the last 30 years of his life. More on Jules-Émile Élisée Maclet

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