Léon Pierre Ducaruge (lavoûte-chilzac, 1843 - Saint-étienne, 1911) - The Meadow

After taking courses at the Saint Etienne drawing school, he completed his training in Paris where he became a student of Harpignies, one of Barbizon's masters. Back in Saint Etienne, he first worked for the ribbon factory (1870-1885) managing one of the largest industrial design firms for the town's ribbon factory. He then devoted himself to teaching and succeeded Joanny Faure as drawing teacher at Saint Michel College. Like Harpignies, he is passionate about the representation of trees and the forest. He also likes to depict rivers, torrents and particularly the banks of the Loire. He is also a draftsman who excels in the practice of charcoal. He took part in the Universal Exhibition of 1873 and exhibited in 1880 at the Salon de la Société des artistes français in Paris, where he appeared with great regularity, exhibiting a number of paintings and drawings. In 1885 and 1886, he exhibited at the Salon “Noir et Blanc” where he obtained a gold medal for the quality of his charcoal. In 1895, he was one of the artists selected by Marty to illustrate his book Terre noire. He presented two paintings at the Saint-Etienne exhibition in 1904 and published his “Notes on the Landscape” in 1908 in the Saint-Etienne magazine Chambre noire et Peinture. Member of the Superior Council of Museums of the Historical Monuments Commission, he is an influential figure in the artistic world of the Saint-Etienne era.