French painting today

two tendencies a n d produces a plastic language coloured by the a r d o u r of his native soil. 2 7 Factory scene (Paysage d'usine) 1948 1.30 x 0.97 28 Portrait of Helene with h a t (Portrait d'Hélène au Chapeau) 1950 0.92 x 0.73 DESPIERRE Jacques Bo r n 7th March, 1912, a t Saint-Etienne of a good middle-class family. After secondary schooling h e entered the Acadérnie Colarossi where h e worked with Ceria. H e then attended the Académie Scandinave where h e was t a ugh t by Dufresne a n d Friesz. H e exhibited a t the Salon d e l'Oeuvre Un i q u e i n 1935 and a t t he Tuileries i n 1938. H e won the Pa u l Gu i l l aume Prize. H e d i d some decoration for the Blanc Mesnil School i n 1937, some theatre settings, illu tra- tions for Promenades et Souvenirs (Walks a n d Memories) by Ge r a r d d e Nerval, published by Daragnes, a n d decorative panels for the Faculty of Pharmacy. In 1947 h e wen t t o Italy, from where h e b r ough t back some luminous a n d well- balanced canvases. I n 1950 h e decorated the liners L i be r t é a n d Marseillaise and was a memb e r of the selection committee of t he Salon des Tuileries a t the Cha r pen t i e r Gallery. Despierre, following the example o f the Italian decorators of the sixteenth a n d seventeenth centuries, likes spacious a n d well-ordered com- positions g r oup i ng a certain n umb e r of figures connected b y a common action, and also a rich subject t h r ough which a cursive design, h e i r t o cubism, shows. 2 9 Ma r ke t in Provence (Marché Provençal) 1952 1.30 x 1.95 DOMINGUEZ Oscar Bo r n 7th January, 1906, a t Te n e r i f i n the Canary Islands. Hi s father wh o was a n ama t e u r painter, a n d a doctor wh o was m a d o n psychoanalysis, were his first masters. I n 1927 h e came t o Paris where he copied t h e masterpieces o f the Louvre a n d drew a t the Academy of la Gr a nd e Chaumière. I n 1935 h e attached himself t o the surrealists, Andre' Breton, Pau l Eluard, Peret a n d Masson and took p a r t i n nearly all t he i r exhibitions. H e collaborated i n the Minotaure. I n 1938 Dr. Wolssen of Copenhagen acquired the products of his so-called "cosmic" period. H e has h e l d private exhibitions a t Carré's (1942), a t the Hentschell Gallery i n Paris, a t the Hu g o Gallery i n New York (1945), the Galerie de France i n Paris, a n d Galerie Moos i n Geneva (1951). 30 Wo r k s hop (Atelier) 1950 0.89 x 1.16 D U F Y R a o u l (died 23/3/1953) Galerie d e France Bo r n 3rd J une , 1877, a t L e Havre, one of eight children. Fellow student with Friesz a t the Beaux-Arts a t R o u e n a n d Paris, his seaboard origin a n d the Havre circles i n which his you t h was spent h a d a great influence o n his art. The complementary, if n o t opposed, lessons of t h e impressionists a n d Matisse, directed his pa i n t i ng towards a n expression a t t he same time free a n d coloured, where graphism a n d arabesque of line play a decisive p a r t i n the midst of areas of p u r e tones which recall Japanese prints a nd p o p u l a r imagery. H e has made mu c h use of watercolour, whose fluidity suits his impulsive temperament; friend of light a n d shade. Like Leger, b u t i n a different spirit, Dufy has worked for the applied arts, particularly materials a n d ceramics, a n d has invented processes [i8] FERN A NI) I 1G E R Branch OH a black background - G a l e r i e L o u i s e L e i i ' i s , Pa us