Jean-georges Pasquet (1851-1936) The Rocks Of Vallières Royan Didonne Charente

Jean-Georges PASQUET
(Périgueux 1851 - 1936)
The rocks of Vallières at Saint Georges de Didonne
Oil on canvas
H. 43 cm; W. 61 cm
Signed and dated 1902 lower right

Provenance : Private collection, Royan

Jean-Georges Pasquet was born in 1851, in Périgueux. After a very little documented Périgord childhood, the young artist arrived in Paris and joined the School of Fine Arts, from which he graduated a few years later. He returned to his land in 1879 to take over the management of the municipal drawing school of Périgueux, and also became a drawing teacher at the Normal Schools for boys and girls. Pupil of Gustave Boulanger, Jules Lefèvre and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, the painter places his easel on the banks of the Dordogne or the Isle to "tell a few memories" through realistic landscapes filled with softness. Through his style, the painter reveals a great idea to his compatriots, of his country and his origins. We find works devoid of artifice, representing the inhabitants of the region, working their land or simply strolling on paths. These paintings or drawings by Pasquet retrace the life of Périgord at dawn and during the 20th century, always located in very specific places. He is one of the artists of the School of Périgueux. This school, somewhat forgotten in the history of art, highlights the heritage and identity of the Perigord lands. Among the representatives, we find Jean-Louis Daniel, André Saigne, Georges Darnet, René Laforest, Roger Favard and André Prugent. This movement has as a common denominator a theme that stands out from the canons of the time: the landscape. “It's a school without a leader and without a dominant style, but which worked with extraordinary enthusiasm. They liked to attack pieces of nature that we call here picadis. » Jean-Michel Linfort The artist paints the Dordogne but not only. He travels in the Creuse and paints the rivers and banks to which he gives life thanks to the bright colors and the movement given to his brush, to give relief to the landscapes. Jean-Georges Pasquet has been exhibited several times at the Museum of Art and Archeology of Périgueux (MAAP), around exhibitions called "The school of Périgueux, painters in the beautiful era", in 2014 and more recently in 2018. The Pointe de Vallières in Saint Georges de Didonne and not far from Royan, is a place regularly represented at the end of the 19th century and until the 1930s. We know of many views of the painter Louis Cabié, with this same angle, in all weathers, and from 1890 onwards. nearby forests.

As usual, Jean-Georges Pasquet treats his subject with a lively and sharp palette, very contrasting in its details, and above all, leaves a few touches of very lively blue paint, giving a little extra sparkle to the composition. This detail, which seems trivial, is not, since it is found in the vast majority of the artist's works, and it is moreover who had to pass it on to his young Perigord colleague: Emile Chaumont. Possibility of having the work framed.