Emile Didier (1890-1965) "the Prefecture Of The Rhône"

LYON PAINTING - Emile Didier (1890-1965) - "la Préfecture Du Rhône" - oil on canvas signed lower left - circa 1925 - format 65 x 50 cm - Émile Didier was born in Lyon in the 6th arrondissement on September 21, 1890 In 1904 he entered the Beaux Arts in Lyon, in the flower class of Castex-Dégranges. His wish is to become a designer for the Lyonnaise silk industry. He nevertheless devotes his leisure time to painting. In 1914, mobilized, then injured, he was repatriated to Grenoble where he could paint and exhibit his work. In 1919, he returned to Lyon and found his painter friends there (among others Combet-Descombes) with whom they founded the Ziniars group (which owes its name to the zinnia flower), and which was at the origin of the creation of Salon du Sud-Est in 1925. Then he managed a drawing office in a Lyon silk factory, while continuing to paint for his pleasure. He introduced his nephew, Marcel Saint-Jean, to art and painting. Influenced by the work of Fernand Léger and André Derain, he became familiar with the artistic avant-garde. He is attracted to Cubism, but tends to produce figurative painting close to Fauvism. He died on July 20, 1965. Twelve paintings by Émile Didier, including a self-portrait from 1923, are in the collection of the Paul Dini Museum, in Villefranche-sur-Saône. The Lyon Museum of Fine Arts acquired four paintings, including “Les Baigneuses”, exhibited at the Salon du Sud-Est in 1952. Numerous exhibitions at the Salon d'Automne de Lyon, and at the Salon du Sud-Est. Sources: Dictionary of painters and sculptors in Lyon in the 19th and 20th centuries. Wikipedia