Georges Alcide Loron - Dessin Japonisant

Mixed media on paper
46.5x30.6 cm / 63.5x49.5 cm framed
Signed lower left "G. A. Loron"
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This drawing reflects the taste pronounced in France at the end of the 19th century for "chinoiseries" and "japaniaiseries", mixing a fantasized Far East with Western academic canons of beauty.
Originally from Loiret, Georges Alcide Loron trained in Paris where he was a student from 1869 at the municipal drawing school of the 10th arrondissement then, from 1871, at the École des beaux-arts in the studio of Isidore Pils (1815-1875) then of Henri Lehmann (1814-1882). His academic training is perceptible in this representation of Asian women with idealized features, dressed in costumes whose upper part seems directly inspired by the aegis of Athena. In addition, the inscriptions on the blue band dividing the drawing are a meaningless assemblage of Chinese characters or pieces of characters, grouped in no particular order, which the artist probably copied from Chinese prints or objects.
The stylized motifs in the background also attest to Georges-Alcide Loron's background in the decorative arts, which earned him several prizes in drawing competitions organized by the Central Union of Fine Arts Applied to Industry while he was a student at the municipal drawing school. However, these successes did not have the expected results and poverty pushed the artist to end his days in 1892, at the age of 38.
Made before 1892, this drawing falls between academic art, decorative art and art nouveau, which gives it a strong singularity.