Julien Féron (1864-1944) Crozant The Mill Of Folie. Pupil Of Guillaumin, School Of Rouen

spectacular and large oil on canvas by Julien Féron representing the Moulin de la Folie on the Sedelle in Crozant circa 1905/1910, signed lower left and on the back with the studio stamp. Size of the painting alone without frame 73x92cm. This is therefore a superb and rare Fauve canvas by Julien Féron who paints here a view of the Moulin de la Folie on the Sedelle in Crozant around 1905/1910. This view of the famous mill where we can see the footbridge was painted by almost all the painters of the Crozant school, in particular Guillaumin, Pailler, Madeline, Mavro, Alfred Smith and Eugène Alluaud. We can see immediately that he has learned the lessons of his master and friend Armand Guillaumin, indeed the palette with bright and shimmering colors is worthy of the master of Creuse. Indeed Julien Féron was one of the rare painters to have been able to rub shoulders very closely with Guillaumin, there were only 4 who were able to benefit from his proximity to this point as Guillaumin had a very particular character, they are Julien Féron, Henri Pailler, Eugène Alluaud and Clémentine Ballot. Julien Hippolyte Féron born in Saint-Jean-du-Cardonnay (Seine-Maritime) on September 14, 1864 and died on February 6, 1944 in Houlme, is a French painter. Julien Féron was born on September 14, 1864 in Saint-Jean-du-Cardonnay (Seine-Maritime) in a bourgeois family. He obtained in the 1880s various prizes in drawing, in particular medals at the Free Society of Emulation of Seine-Maritime. After studying engineering, he married an Alsatian refugee in 1887. His father bought him a business in Houlme and he became a major alcohol merchant in the Cailly Valley This life interested him little and he quickly entrusted the management of the company to his wife, while he attended painting exhibitions. He began painting in 1898 as an autodidact and his fortune allowed him to create a large studio on his property. He attended exhibitions in Rouen and Paris, and met the actor Dorival who, interested in his paintings, introduced him to Armand Guillaumin in 1904. The two painters became friends. Guillaumin came to work with Féron in Houlme and Féron visited Guillaumin's studio in Crozant three times between 1905 and 1910. Julien Féron, who limited himself to Normandy landscape paintings, to the point that he was nicknamed "the painter of apple trees in blossom", discovered and painted the landscapes of Crozant in the Creuse. He became close to many Normandy painters such as Robert Antoine Pinchon, Pierre Dumont, Eugène Tirvert, Marcel Couchaux and Pierre Hodé, with whom he founded the XXX group in 1907, then the Société de peinture moderne. They often met in his house in Houlme. Julien Féron did not see Guillaumin again after 1910, but the two men remained in contact by letter. Julien Féron travelled to Tunisia and Algeria, without this influencing his work. He settled in Paris, which he left after the tragic death of his son by suicide. It was in Gassin, in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, that he found new life for his painting. He had gone to the South of France after the tragic event at the invitation of Emmanuel Bénézit, in Hyères. He traveled through the hinterland and discovered the hilltop village of Gassin, its landscapes and its almond trees. He fell under its spell and bought a village house there shortly after and returned for eight years for two months. In 1934, his health declined and no longer allowed him to travel. He continued to go to Paris until his last days to see exhibitions and visit the collections of the Louvre Museum For information, a study representing the same view, an oil on paper of 50x61cm had sold for nearly €1,800 at Millon a few years ago. Views of Creuse are quite rare in Féron's work, we find more frequently views of Normandy or the surroundings of Gassin. This large canvas is in perfect condition, just a small and old repair at the top left now invisible, delivered in a modern gilded frame Work guaranteed authentic