Georges Le Meilleur (1861-1945): Tugboat On The Seine

Georges LE MEILLEUR (1861-1945) Tugboat on the Seine Oil on wooden panel. Dimensions of the painting: 50 x 50 cm Signed and dated lower right. Painting in very good condition. Period oak frame. Free Dimensions with frame: 61 x 61 cm Label from Galerie Legrip, Rouen Sold with invoice and certificate of authenticity. Fast and careful shipping with insurance. Georges LE MEILLEUR (1861-1945) Born in Rouen in 1861, from a family of textile industrialists, he broke with family tradition and moved to Paris at a very young age where he began working in the Puvis entourage de Chavannes and Raphaël Collin. He enrolled at the age of 21 at the Beaux-Arts in Cormon's workshop. His own workshop was first located in Paris, rue du Val-de-Grâce, then rue Cardinet and, in 1908, boulevard Gouvion-Saint-Cyr. His first engraving was a drypoint from 1882. He visited the south of France, Brittany, and went to Venice, but most of his inspiration was found in the landscapes of Ille-de-France and Normandy. He met Louis Barthou who became one of his collectors. Thus, during the period from 1914 to 1918, Georges Le Meilleur became an “army painter”. In 1937, he received the grand prize for original black engraving from the Société Nationale des Beaux-Art de Paris with “La Poulinière”. Between the two wars, he retired to Amfreville-la-Mivoie, where he ended his life, always amazed by the light and the trees on the banks of the Seine. Works by Georges Le Meilleur appear in particular at the National Library of Art and Archaeology, the British Museum, the Municipal Library of New York, the Chalcographie du Louvre, the Museums of Rouen, Vincennes and Pittsburgh. In 1971, the Rouen museum paid tribute to him during its exhibition.