Léon Printemps (1871-1945) - La Cartomancienne, Circa 1895

Léon Printemps (1871-1945)
La Cartomancienne, circa 1895
oil on canvas (Rentoilage)
41 x 33 cm (50 x 41 cm with frame)
Signed lower right
Our painting appears in the artist's catalog raisonné under the number A5

Born in the Lille region, Léon Printemps (1871-1945) began painting at the age of thirteen, encouraged by his uncle and mentor the sculptor Jules Printemps (1851-1989). He joined the evening classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1888, joined the studio of Gustave Moreau in 1892, and surrounded himself with avant-garde artists such as Rouault, Matisse and the Belgian painter Henri Evenepoel . “The meeting with Moreau, the master of Symbolism, will be decisive for his sensitivity. He fully adheres to the artistic theses of his teacher, exhibiting twelve paintings at the last Salon de la Rose-Croix in March 1897, ”explains expert Dominique Voutay. Following the lineage of Symbolist painters, Léon Printemps received numerous awards throughout his career and exhibited in 1893 at the Salon des Artistes Français, an annual meeting to which he remained faithful until his death in 1945.