Henri Bouché-leclercq (1878-1946), Portrait Of The Painter Louis Degallaix, 1910, Oil On Canvas

Henri Bouché-Leclercq (1878-1946)
Portrait of the painter Louis Degallaix (1877-1951), 1910
Oil on canvas
Signed, dated “1910” and dedicated “to my friend Degallaix” lower right
55 x 46 cm

Son of Augustus Bouché-Leclercq (1842-1923), historian specializing in Greek and Roman Antiquity and author of numerous publications, Henri Bouché-Leclercq was born in Paris in 1878. He trained at the École des Beaux-Arts with Joseph-Paul Blanc and Léon Bonnat before settling in his own workshop located in the Montparnasse district, at 89 rue de Vaugirard.

Henri Bouché-Leclercq notably made an oil portrait of the philosopher Émile Boutroux mentioned by the critic Louis Vauxcelles in his reviews of the Salon of 1906. He became a member of the Salon des Artistes Français and received a silver medal in 1933. In 1937, he was part of the jury for the Universal Exhibition held in Paris. He was also curator at the Jacquemart-André museum.

Not only a painter, Henri Bouché-Leclercq is also a recognized illustrator. He illustrates Paul Verlaine's Poèmes saturniens for Albert Meissen in 1914 and collaborates with Auguste Leroux on the illustration of Sapho, Parisian manners of Alphonse Daudet for the Librairie des amateurs in 1925. The work we offer is a portrait of the painter Louis Degallaix (1877-1951). This one, who also attended the workshop of Léon Bonnat, notably distinguished himself in the painting of flowers and landscapes. Henri Bouché-Leclercq painted his portrait in 1910, the same year Louis Degallaix exhibited at the Georges Petit gallery (March 1910). We know of another portrait of the artist made ten years later by the painter Eugène Ullman.

The artist here uses the pictorial technique of grisaille by using several shades of the same color: brown. This monochrome treatment through sepia shades is reminiscent of the famous portraits painted around 1900 by Eugène Carrière (1840-1906). It allows a perfect blend of shadows and lights.