Laurent Mattio (1892-1965) Cap Brun In Toulon

Full summer light on the famous Cap Brun in Toulon at the beginning of the 20th century by the Toulon artist Laurent Mattio.
Breathtaking in light and color, the 26-year-old artist must have painted this oil on canvas under the influence of François Nardi, the Provencal master thirty years his senior who created a work with a similar subject and composition. .
The work in excellent condition is offered in a pretty gilded and sculpted frame which measures 48 cm by 56 cm and 38 cm by 46 cm for the canvas alone.
It represents the Fort and the famous cliffs of Cap Brun in Toulon, it is signed and dated 1918 at the bottom right.

A magnificent and luminous representation of this beautiful place where many artists lived and still very popular with the people of Toulon.

In 1905, at the age of thirteen, he entered the "School of Drawing and Decorative Arts" directed by the painter Adolphe Bonny. His teachers were: Paul Jolly, Gabriel Amoretti, Edmond Barbaroux and Adolphe Bonny. Every year he wins the best places and prizes from the school. He remained there for six years, crowned by the School of Drawing's highest award: the Minister of Fine Arts Prize. The problem of continuing his studies then arises for Laurent. Encouraged by his teachers and some friends, he wants to reach Paris and the National School of Fine Arts. In Paris he showed his work to the painter Cormon, member of the Institute and professor at the School of Fine Arts. He admitted him to his course in January 1912. There followed in Paris, from 1913 to 1921, eight years of diligent work for this “very good student, very gifted” boy, living in difficult material conditions. The cold and deprivation took their toll on his health, and at the time of the declaration of war, after a serious bout of bronchopneumonia and weighing only forty kilos, he was discharged. Benefiting from a leave of absence from the School given by the painter Cormon, whose painting "Caïn" is in the Musée d'Orsay, he came to convalesce in Solliès-Ville where Léon Vérane was and where Henri Olive (Olive) often joined them Tamari), the journalist Raoul Noilletas and the friends who remained despite the distance from Paris. After this rest stay, Mattio courageously resumed his studies in Paris. He found his teachers: Cormon, François Flamenq (author of the decoration of the Hotel de Ville de Paris), Jean-Paul Laurens... and in the evening after the Beaux Arts, attending the Grande Chaumière or the Académie Jullian. In 1919 his first admission to the Salon des Artistes Français took place with "le Cap Brown seen from Saint Marguerite". 1921 was the last year of studies. Equipped with excellent certificates, returned to Toulon after refusing a teaching position in Montreal, Laurent Mattio applied for a position at the city's School of Fine Arts. He obtained it in 1922. In March the municipality acquired one of his works, after a competition, out of fifty shipments, it was "the Camin de la Bastido" intended for the City Museum (work disappeared) which was selected. Then it will be the decoration of a panel in the foyer of the Municipal Opera, “La Danse”. That same year, a patron and friend, Mr. Gastaud, whose portrait he had painted, having faith in the artist's future, offered him a study stay in Florence, which he happily enjoyed. He will also be the winner of the Syndicat d'Initiative poster competition which will bear the PLM acronym for the tourist reputation of Toulon. In 1925, it will be the ornamentation of the transoms of the three entrance doors of the Chamber of Commerce of Toulon which will illustrate the towns and the main activities of the department: Toulon, fishing - Brignoles, wine - Draguignan, oil. The painters Lucas and Mouttet were responsible for decorating other transoms. These decorations disappeared during the construction of the mezzanine. That year, at the start of the school year in October, Laurent Mattio would meet Odette Mainaud, who had recently arrived in Toulon, herself from the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Lyon and a silver medalist from that city. She signed her works with the pseudonym Paul Provence. They married on June 5, 1926 and settled at 15 rue de la République, on the port, above the legendary "Mechanic's Bazaar". It was there that the following year their son, Jean-Gérard, was born, who in turn would be a painter and professor at the Toulon School of Fine Arts. He signed under the pseudonym Jean Sanary until 1950. It was in 1927 that Laurent Mattio's first major exhibition took place at the very closed Cercle Artistique de Nice, which was a great success. But in 1931, determined to make a living only from his painting, Laurent resigned from the School of Fine Arts and settled in the port of Sanary. Exhibitions follow one another in Paris, Toulon, Hyères, Nice, Lyon, Marseille, Nevers, St Etienne, Nantes, Grenoble, Sanary, Bandol, Strasbourg, Angers, Roanne... as well as summer stays in Porquerolles where he presents his works on the walls of hotels and restaurants frequented by celebrities. In 1944 these fruitful years were interrupted by an evacuation order. The port of Sanary is mined. Laurent and his family will retreat to Vougy (Loire). The return will take place on November 1, 1946 and the accommodation in a damaged family home on Avenue du Las in Toulon where Laurent recreates his workshop. On October 1, 1959, yielding to the friendly insistence of Admiral Avice, Laurent Mattio was named resident member of the Académie du Var. As a speech, he donated a painting “the Royal Tower” to the Academy. The Toulouse municipality gave its name to the southern part of Avenue du Las. The inauguration took place on April 25, 1968. On this occasion, the painting: "Schooner at the Merchant Port" was acquired by the City Museum. Two retrospectives were devoted to him at the Toulon Museum: the paintings in 1966, the drawings in 1970, as well as in Aubagne in 1994.