Henri Paul Royer (1869-1938) Promenade Avenue Foch Oil On Wood Circa 1890-1910

Henri Paul Royer (1869-1938) Promenade avenue Foch oil on wood circa 1890-1910

The atmosphere of those carefree years at the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th is perfectly described. Spring is just beginning, with onlookers strolling along Avenue Foch, against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, and many others riding in horse-drawn carriages.

Very beautiful painting, with this scene of lively life in beautiful Paris, oil on wood signed lower right circa 1890-1910.

Sizes unframed:   H 17.71 Inches. - W 28.34 Inches.
Sizes with frame:  H 25.59 Inches. - W 36.22 Inches.

In fine original condition, we are exhibiting the painting in its original carved and gilded wood and stucco frame.

Biography :

Henri Paul Royer born on 22 January 1869 in Nancy and died on 31 October 1938 in Neuilly sur Seine was a French painter.

A genre painter, portraitist and landscape painter, he travelled to America and throughout Europe.

Henri Royer was the son of Jules Royer (1845-1900), the founder of one of the largest lithographic printing works in Nancy, on rue de la Salpêtrière. Immersed in the world of art, Henri Royer entered the Nancy School of Fine Arts, where he met Emile Friant. There he studied with Antoine Vierling and Louis Théodore Devilly and exhibited his first works at the Salon de Nancy, including Lutte entre deux jeunes typos and Jeune plâtrier. These early successes prompted his parents and teachers to encourage a study trip to the Netherlands with Friant, who was to exert an influence on Royer.

On his homecoming in 1888, he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris with Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger.

In 1890, he made his first appearance at the Salon with a painting entitled Le Vagabond, for which he received an honourable mention.
The Scène de la vie de Bacchus, painted in 1892, won him the 3,000 franc Lehmann prize.
In 1898, he won the Salon prize and 10,000 francs for his painting L'Ex-voto, and also a gold medal at the fine arts exhibition to mark the jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna. It was this painting, exhibited alongside others such as En Flandres le soir, that won him the silver medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition.

He was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur on 14 December 1900. In 1901, he was offered the directorship of the women's studio at the Académie Julian, which he accepted.

In 1906, he contributed to the decoration of the Villa Majorelle in Nancy.

When the First World War broke out, he was initially drafted into the 41st Infantry Regiment. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre on 17 November 1915, and the Military Cross on 10 August 1916.
Henri Royer then joined the 1st Camouflage Engineer Regiment on 1 November 1916.

He was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour on 11 August 1931.

His trip to Brittany in 1896 left a deep impression on him, and for the rest of his life, Henri Royer devoted himself to painting the local people. ‘He had just discovered that the deep Armorique was the home of his art’. When he stayed in Brittany, it was in Audierne, in Primelin at the foot of the chapel of Saint-Tugen.

He died in Neuilly sur Seine on 31 October 1938.

In 2008, an exhibition was held in Audierne to pay tribute to the painter.

Works in public collections.

Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro, Fine Arts Museum: Sur la butte, 1891, oil on canvas.

France.

Louvre Museum:

Femme nue, debout, se coiffant, 1899, black pencil on Bristol paper; Le Phare de l'île de Sein, black pencil, graphite and white chalk on beige paper.
Portrait of Walter Gay, seated, three-quarters left, graphite.
Portrait of the painter Léon Bonnat, 1919, graphite.
L'Aurore, 1914-1918, poster.
La Bretonne, oil on canvas.

Orsay Museum:

Le Bénédicité, 1895, oil on wood.

Museum of Fine Arts of Quimper:

L'Ex-voto, 1898, oil on canvas.
Portrait d'une jeune Bretonne, oil on canvas.

Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy:

Nymph (1893).

Museum of Nancy School:

Prayer to Saint Tugen, circa 1910.

Brittany Museum of Quimper:

Bretonne aveugle devant l'église de Saint-Tujen, oil on canvas.
Bretonne du Cap-Sizun, ink drawing.
Bretonne from Cap-Sizun reading a letter, drawing.

Brest Museum of Fine Arts:

La Clairière aux légendes, oil on canvas.
Young Breton woman, oil on canvas.
Jeune femme de l'île de Sein, 1906, oil on canvas.