René Sautin (1881 - 1968) The Old Bridge Over The Risle

René SAUTIN (1881-1968) The old bridge over the Risle Oil on cardboard Dimensions: 50 x 61 cm Dimensions with frame: 66 x 73 cm Signed lower left This painting will be listed in the catalogue raisonné of the artist's work currently being prepared by Robert and Thierry Tuffier. Sold with invoice and certificate of authenticity Possibility of shipping in France or abroad. René Sautin (1881-1968) was born in Montfort-sur-Risle in 1881. He entered the Beaux-Arts in Rouen in the painting studio of the painter P. Zacharie, then in Paris in the Ferrier studio where he received advice from Albert Lebourg, a native of the same village. He then joined the Independents with Signac and Luce. He married Marthe in 1910, settled in Les Andelys in 1911 and became friends with the sons of Pissarro, Signac, Luce, Derain, Guillaumin, Lebasque, Bigot, Gernez who met in Les Andelys to paint on the banks of the Seine. Steeped in his Normandy soil, René Sautin was essentially a landscaper. Around 1923, he abandoned the impressionist style for a calm and reasoned fauvism. The painter, having found balance in his means of expression from 1925, reached his full potential in the 1950s. He is one of the rare Norman painters to describe his landscapes in such a personal way through their power, a certain controlled violence, a strong sensitivity. A proud, distinguished, very cultured man, he suffered greatly from not being understood in his time and he regretted this isolation: "My life has often been hard and difficult..." René Sautin was born in the same village as the famous painter Albert Lebourg, in Montfort sur Risle. But it was in Les Andelys that he would spend most of his life. After primary and secondary studies in Montfort sur Risle and Pont-Audemer, René Sautin immediately turned to drawing: "Once my studies were completed, with a classical background, I entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Rouen in the studio of the painter Philippe Zacharie, a distinguished master for whom drawing was a precious metal. Then I went to Paris where I spent a year in the Ferrier studio... and I threw myself into painting with some good friends and listening to the advice of the painter Albert Lebourg." René Sautin left the capital in 1911 to settle in Les Andelys with his wife Marthe. The first period of his work was very influenced by Albert Lebourg, but very quickly his temperament drew him towards a Fauvist style of painting with calm and reasoned colors. He himself said of his painting: "Painting, in essence, is spreading paste and not rubbing. From there, I paint thickly in full paste, without smearing, each touch being definitive. I never return to a tone once the touch is applied. This gives great power to my painting and a lot of character. What the hell! Nature is affirmed. What makes a tone beautiful is its bold and rich color. The whole art of painting lies in doing or interpreting as one feels, as one sees, all the rest is snobbery. Painting is externalizing one's temperament. It is an interpretation of one's thoughts that one passes on to others." The period of the Second World War deeply upset the artist, because René Sautin was undoubtedly a true lover of Les Andelys. He never stopped painting the Seine, the quays of Petit-Andely and the Château Gaillard. He often painted in the same places, but each time he created a new work. However, on June 8, 1940, the Germans bombed the town of Les Andelys. A city ninety percent destroyed was discovered. The churches were spared, as were a few houses, but the entire city center had disappeared under the bombardment of explosive and incendiary bombs. During this period, artists lost the taste for painting. Nevertheless, René Sautin, the day after the bombings, made a series of watercolors, as if he wanted to preserve a testimony, for future generations, of the apocalyptic vision of the city. From then on, his work changed. His drawing became more marked, outlined in black. On the Seine, the barges had the tricolor shield. In the 1950s, René Sautin continued this tendency to emphasize his drawing. Unfortunately, he gradually lost his sight. The artist compensated for his loss of vision with increasingly violent and vivid colors. He stopped painting permanently in 1964, four years before his death.