Michelet Georges (1873-1946) “place In Alexandretta Syria” Türkiye Iskenderum Aleppo Lebanon Paris

MICHELET Georges (1873-1946)

"The square in Alexandretta, Syria"

Oil on canvas,
Signed and dated 1933 lower right,
Old stamp in Arabic, not very legible, on the back on the frame,

Rare work by the orientalist painter Georges Claude Michelet which represents a rare view of the main square and Cyala Boulevard in Alexandretta in Syria in 1933.
The artist describes the liveliness of the city with its café on the seafront and its historical monuments under French colonial influences on the Place de la République such as the Central Bank building (today the headquarters of the central bank of Merkes Bankasi), the former Iskenderun Courthouse built between 1928 and 1930,...
It was in 1939 that the city of Alexandretta also called Iskenderun was annexed to Turkey.
Indeed, until 1937 the city of Alexandretta was an integral part of Syria.

A student of Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he met and became friends with the painter Paul Sérusier, of whom he painted a portrait of his friend in 1887.
A painter in love with the Orient, Georges Claude Michelet visited the Ottoman Empire and settled in Brousse. He returned from Turkey to settle in Beirut and continued to paint while giving lessons to a few students including Galentz in the early 1930s and Terpenian in the 1940s. During this period, he painted the souks in Aleppo, the ruins of Palmyras, caravans in the desert and portraits of its inhabitants.
He died in Beirut in 1946.
This work is a rare historical testimony of the city of Alexandretta at the beginning of the 20th century.

Dimensions: 64 x 93.5 cm without frame and 74.5 x 103 cm with its original gilded wooden frame.

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