French 1834-1916
Student of Guiaud, Le Vilain produced many more watercolors than oil paintings. There is a definite influence in his early works by the Barbizon master, Camille Corot. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from1870 onwards, submitting landscapes, marine scenes, and a few genre subjects. His two scenes of Pont Aven, where he worked around 1870, were sent for his Salon debut. He also represented the sites of Calvados, Honfleur, and Yport, as well as the surroundings of Paris; the Marne and the Seine Rivers, the Normandy coast and the Brittany countryside.
In his technique, he gives an importance to a virgin support and to the color white, which he uses to lend a sense of brightness, which he animates with the contrast of shadow and bright daylight.
Museum Collections:
Musée de Bordeaux
Musée d’Arras
