Nude By Pierre Langlade, Painter Of La Rochelle

Nude by Pierre LANGLADE oil on panel signed lower left. Pierre Langlade, born February 27, 1907 in La Rochelle and died June 10, 1972 in La Rochelle, is a French painter of the 20th century. He was born on February 27, 1907, in La Rochelle in a house on the rue du Palais. His father was a bank employee, his mother ran a pastry shop belonging to one of his uncles, an enlightened art lover who had, in this field, a certain influence on his nephew. He was also the nephew of the painter Gabriel Charlopeau who had him enter the Nantes School of Fine Arts at the age of seventeen. Then he was a student of Paul Albert Laurens at the Académie Julian in Paris. He was admitted to the French Artists at a very young age and participated in the Salon d'Automne and the Universal Exhibition of 1937. Returning to La Rochelle after his Parisian studies, he spent the rest of his life there. He illustrated Fernand Darde's book La Rochelle au visage marin with watercolours and, with the drawing teacher and resistance fighter Henry Gayot, he published La Rochelle, notes sur ses monuments3. Remaining single, he lived on rue Nicolas-Venette, with his uncle Otten, of whom he was the universal legatee. This privileged family situation allowed him to travel. Pierre Langlade died on 10 June 1972 in La Rochelle. A street in La Rochelle bears his name. Pierre Langlade was considered by the art critics of his time to be a "classical virtuoso"; in him an impetuous inspiration did not exceed reasonable limits, in one direction as in the other, "those which lead to chromo or those which stop at the door of aggressiveness". He tackled all genres, all subjects, but the variety of his painting does not make us forget its unity. July 14 in Saumur is full of humor and verve, the Oriental fantasy is a coldly academic composition. His landscapes are moving, his Spring, Pines, Harvest for example. He also produced portraits and still lifes, autumn bouquets in warm tones, wild flowers and bouquets of roses, all are sumptuous. Drawings, watercolors, gouaches are astonishing by their diversity of subjects as well as method. A recognized painter, he participated in exhibitions both in France and abroad and his paintings are exhibited in many museums