Alfred Lombard, The Arbor At Autun, C. 1924

Alfred LOMBARD (1884-1973) 
La Tonnelle à Autun, C. 1924
Oil on paper mounted on canvas, stamped lower left
48 x 39 cm

Provenance :
Artist's studio
Private collection, Paris, France

Exhibitions :
Alfred Lombard exhibition, Galerie Druet, Paris, February 9 - 20, 1925, no. 27.
Alfred Lombard, Musée de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, October 17 - November 28, 1987, reproduced in the exhibition catalog as n°31, p.57.
Alfred Lombard, Galerie Stammegna, Marseille, September 16-30, 2011, under the title Autun, n°24.
Alfred Lombard, Couleur et Intimité, Musée Regards de Provence, Marseille, March 13 - August 23, 2015, reproduced in the exhibition catalog on p.75.

Bibliography : 
Giulia Pentcheff, Alfred Lombard, Galerie Alexis Pentcheff, Marseille, 2019, reproduced as n°132 on p. 199.

Alfred LOMBARD, a painter born in Provence at the end of the 19th century whose artistic journey led him from Fauvism to monumental decoration, from monumental decoration to daring plastic experiments. Alfred LOMBARD was born in Marseille in 1884. Coming from a wealthy family, he studied history and literature at the faculty of Aix-en-Provence. If this path satisfied the paternal authorities and partly responded to a form of intellectual curiosity of the young man who was interested in many fields outside of painting, it did not satisfy the aspiring artist. For several years now, Alfred Lombard has been progressing almost blindly along a path that resolutely calls him. On this solitary path, the watercolorist Joseph Cabasson had guided his steps somewhat by teaching him the basics of oil painting. In 1903, he therefore endeavored to obtain both the approval of his family and its necessary financial support before enrolling as a free student in the first year at the Marseille School of Fine Arts. However, what he finds there, far from satisfying his appetite for learning, frustrates him terribly. He soon left the School, criticizing with great virulence a form of teaching which, in his eyes, paid too heavy a price on the hierarchical relationship between master and student so that true artists could flourish to their full potential. value. If he respects tradition, he places the defense of freedom and independence in artistic expression even higher. In the 1920s, Alfred Lombard became more interested in still lifes and nudes in a style very different from that which previously characterized him: a refined decor, softer colors, an increasingly greater freedom in research processes. stylistic. In the 1930s, the artist abandoned his easel to devote himself to decorative art. His collaboration with the architect Pierre Patout, whom he met at this time, allowed him to express himself on various large-scale projects: the decoration of the chapel of the liner "Atlantique", in 1931, or that of the "Normandie" in 1934.