Alfred Lombard (1884-1973), Profile Of A Woman, Oil On Canvas Signed On The Left

Alfred Lombard was a Provençal painter born in Marseille in 1884. After exhibiting his works at the Salon d'Automne in 1907 and the Paris Salon in 1910, he organized the Salon de Mai in Marseille with P. Girieud in 1912 and 1913 in their shared studio at no. 12 quai de Rive-Neuve on the Vieux Port. He notably worked with the architect P. Patout from 1925 on the layout and design of the interior decorations of the large liners of the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique and in particular the liners Ile de France and Atlantique. This collaboration reached its peak in 1935 with the ocean liner Normandie, an undisputed and unequalled masterpiece of French Art Deco of the 1930s. He presented his work in the most prestigious galleries of the capital and two solo exhibitions were dedicated to him: at Rosenberg in 1914 and at Druet in 1925. However, his professional demands quickly led him to move away from the commercial circuits of the art world, which he disapproved of. It was on the margins of any official career, his personal resources protecting him from financial need, that he continued his research, theoretical and practical, always close to his friend Pierre Girieud. This oil on paper mounted on canvas is a preparatory work for the large painting "Portrait of a Woman at a Chest of Drawers".