Maurice Savin (1894 -1973)- View Of The Bastide Of Domme, Dordogne, Périgord Noir, Circa 1920.

Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
Titled on the back "Landscape (Domme)", numbered 1
Dimensions: 60 x 76 cm With frame: 81 x 96.5 cm

A cubist and synthetic work in harmonious colors

Maurice Savin interprets here the view of the village of Domme through geometric shapes; A volume painting technique. The influence of Cézanne "the father of modern art" is felt. The red of the roofs, the pink of the houses and the orange of the cultivated fields stand out against the deep green of the vegetation in a beautiful harmony of colors.

Domme, one of the most beautiful bastides in the South-West, jewels of the Périgord Noir.
Overlooking the Dordogne by 150 meters, this royal 13th century bastide offers a panoramic view of the landscapes of the valley, marked by cultivated plains and these very dark holm oak forests which give this part of Périgord its qualifier of Périgord "Black". ".

Bibliography

 Maurice Savin, originally from Drôme, is an artist of great sensitivity and very personal poetry. After studying in Valence, he entered the School of Decorative Arts in Paris. Savin is a complete artist, he exercises his talents in a variety of means of artistic expression such as ceramics, tapestry (a passage through the Manufacture de Sèvres), stained glass, wall decoration of public or private buildings (wall decoration for the town hall of Montélimar in 1936), and engraving. But he never abandons pure painting. His iconography is characterized by a strong presence of countryside genre scenes, seasonal work in the fields or orchards, but also female nudes. In his first studio, on the Champ de Mars, he already held himself to great discipline, tried to purify his palette to retain only the six to seven colors he worked on and obtain the "color of light" which flooded his canvases with come. Very quickly, his oils on canvas are selling well. The Parisian galleries claim it. His very first exhibition took place in 1921. He exhibited regularly at official salons. Many prizes, up to the Legion of Honor, then punctuated an artistic career led with insight and tenacity. During his lifetime, despite his legendary discretion, major retrospectives were organized at the Musée de Valence (1955) and at the Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice (1969), while the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris paid him a posthumous tribute in 1979. And if a few monographs are devoted to his work, his admirers regret that they have not yet allowed him to find his rightful place in the history of 20th century art.

 Public collections: • Mural decoration of the main staircase of the town hall of Montélimar. (Drôme) • "La spiaggia a Sestri" 1952 price of the city of Sestri Levante (Italy)

Museums: • Paris, Le Petit Palais, the Museum of Modern Art • Grenoble, Sèvres • Internationally: Stockholm, Gothenburg, Faenza, Cairo, Lausanne, London…