French, 1870-1950
French painter, illustrator and stage designer, disdaining the traditional art schools, Georges D’Espagnat studied part-time at the Académie Colarossi in Paris under Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois and Jean-André Rixens but was mostly self-taught. In 1891, he exhibited at the Salon des Refusés and the following year at the Salon des Indépendants. His early works showed a strong debt to Impressionism. He was a friend of Renoir as well as of Paul Signac, Henri Edmond Cross, Louis Valtat and later Maurice Denis, Bonnard and Vuillard.
After his return to France, from a visit to Morocco in 1898, he concentrated on studies from nature, paintings of women, children and flowers and decorative projects for private patrons. In 1904 he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne, becoming its Vice-President in 1935. In 1906 he illustrated Remy de Gourmont’s book Sixtine, published in Paris. In the early 1910s he painted a number of portraits including several musician friends, including Albert Roussel, by this time his work was more simplified, fluid and intimate. In 1914 he provided the decor for a production of Alfred de Musset’s play Fantasio at the Théâtre de Batignolles in Paris.
After working in a camouflage unit during World War I, d’Espagnat bought a country house in the Quercy region and over the next decade painted numerous landscapes and interiors there. During the 1930s he worked in various media. He illustrated Alphonse Daudet’s L’Immortel (Paris, 1930) and also produced theatre designs. Ironically, considering his earlier attitudes, from 1936 to 1940 he was a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Though disrupted by World War II, he continued to paint until his death and with his pupil Suzanne Humbert, illustrated Francis Jammes’s Clairières dans le ciel, 1902–1906.
French, 1911-1994
Provenance:
Private collection, France
Max Papart's paintings and graphics are suffused with sunny humor and the bright colors of the French Riviera where he was born. Working in the cubist style, he depicted circus scenes, flirting couples, soaring birds and similar cheerful subjects with flat, overlapping planes of contrasting colors and textures.
Museums:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
National Gallery, London
Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musee Cantini, Marseilles
Fondation Maeght, St. Paul de Vence
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Indianapolis Museum of Art
New Orleans Museum of Art
High Museum, Atlanta
Bibliotheque Nationale de l'Arsenal, Paris
Salle de l'Aubette de la ville de Strasbourg
Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art
Jacksonville Art Museum
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix
Syracuse University
U.C.L.A.
Yale University
Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe
