Edmond Astruc (1878-1979) On The Counterfeit Money Bridge In Marseille

A famous district of Marseille  seen by Edmond Astruc and his talent to restore the simplicity of a peaceful but always colorful, generous and cheerful life.
An original subject that contrasts old buildings such as the Pont de la Fausse Monnaie, the diversity of shapes of the small Marseille houses perched on the heights of the Corniche dominated by the steepness of the buildings of the 50s and 60s.
The work in excellent condition is offered in a simple modern frame that measures 88.5 cm by 69.5 cm and 81 cm by 60 cm for the isorel panel.
It represents a couple leaning on the Bridge, looking at the sea below, in the direction of the famous Michelin-starred restaurant Le Petit Nice. In the background the restaurant Le Rhul.
It is signed at the bottom left

He studied at the Lycée Thiers, then at the École des beaux-arts, where he followed the teaching of Guindon, Alphonse Moutte and Aldebert, while working with his father, in the morning, at the tannery- family leather goods. Still a student, he took part in the Salon d'Automne in Marseille alongside illustrious elders: Cézanne, Rodin, Courbet and even Carrière. From 1928 until 1936, he exhibited every year in the Galerie Fernand Detaille. This did not prevent him from rowing, sailing, then skiing and motorcycling, an accomplished sportsman (cycling, boxing and swimming champion). Many medals bear witness to this sporting activity. In 1906, he built his first airplane, the “sky louse”, which he broke on takeoff for lack of space. He's starting again. In 1913, he had a serious accident on a "Henriot" at the aerodrome of Reims. In June 1914, he traveled up the Rhône in a hydrofoil, on behalf of Henri Fabre, to Aix-les-Bains. The event is reported in many newspapers of the time. During the First World War, he was a test pilot in Toulon then in Saint-Raphaël (Var). After the war, he returned to painting. "This period of my life, he says, spent in aviation, the continual contact with the wide open spaces of the sky and the sea, had rejuvenated and purified my vision, I returned to clarity, light and to the atmosphere of my first years of painting. »2 He took part in numerous exhibitions in Marseille, Paris, Algiers, Lyon, Grenoble, Geneva, Aix-en-Provence… and took part each year from 1930 to 1939, then afterwards in 1946, at the Salon des Artistes de Provence where he was many prizes. In 1936, he was elected to the Academy of Marseilles, in the Arts class. During the Second World War, he was voluntarily mobilized (he was already 61 years old) in aviation as a technical agent for the SNCASE (Société Nationale de Construction Aéronautique du Sud Est) in Marignane. Then he was assigned to Evreux, still for aeronautical construction, until the German invasion of northern France. He then continued his mobilization in Angoulême. At the invasion of the free zone, part of the equipment is hidden so as not to fall into the hands of the enemy, and he finds his family in Marseilles. In 1943, the occupier destroyed his house in the Saint-Lazare district to install a defense battery for the Old Port. Until the end of the war, his family was then hosted by various friends. He buys an old bastide at Roucas-Blanc in Marseille where he sets up his studio and continues to exhibit. In 1956, he presented at the Moulot Gallery, "50 years of painting by the Marseilles painter Edmond ASTRUC" where one can follow the entire evolution of his art, from his first watercolors to the latest to date: "the porch of the Town Hall of Marseilles »5. In 1959, he built a Catamaran on the model of two seaplane floats (he was 81 years old) and left Marseilles following the coast. He was welcomed on the Island of Bendor, at Paul Ricard's, then at Embiez and went to Favière beach in Bormes-les-Mimosas. On board, he has placed his box of paint: he draws and paints as soon as he arrives. On January 9, 1977, he worked in his studio on a large canvas La Favière. He will not finish it because he dies on January 11, at 98 years old. His work testifies to a deep attachment to his city, to the sea, and to Provençal nature, and if he is a painter with the trends of his time, he is not attached to any school. The Museum of Fine Arts in Marseille retains his "Village and port of Goudes".