Alfred Hoën (1868-1954) Rue Du Level Périgueux

Alfred Georges HOËN
(Bar le Duc 1868 - Paris 1954)
Rue du Niveau - Périgueux
Watercolor
H. 33.5 cm; L. 27.5 cm at sight
Signed lower left

Artist from Lorraine, Alfred Hoën first trained on his territory before joining Paris and the School of Decorative Arts, then that of Fine Arts on entering the workshop of Jean-Léon Gérôme. His arrival in the capital in 1890 will allow him to experience success in a wide variety of genres, ranging from portraits to landscapes, including genre scenes and still lifes. This in oil or watercolor. He made a stay in the United States at the end of the Great War which seems to have lasted many years. Possibly until the declaration of the following war in 1939. During this war, Hoën went into hiding like many people from Lorraine and Alsace, in Périgueux. He will produce many views and scenes of life that the Périgords know. It would seem that a very large part of his workshop remained in Périgueux with the family that welcomed him. An auction with dozens of works took place in the 2000s.

These are compositions in soft hues, full of charm, that Alfred Hoën mainly composes on the motif, leaving in his watercolors the imprint of his period of creation between the tones and the semi-tones that he lets transpire.

The rue du Niveauand its houses spanning the roadway are no more. This street was part of Périgueux, a set called "New streets", located below the Saint Front cathedral and running to the boulevard along the Isle. Unfortunately destroyed around 1960, all this district that the municipality considered unhealthy and tamed by the local underworld, gave way to a car park and a few modern buildings... These old streets with a medieval look of houses huddled together and on the ground paved with pebbles from the Isle have disappeared forever.