Constant Puyo (1857-1933) Profile Of A Young Man Crowned With Foliage, In The Neo-greek Style

Constant Puyo (1857-1933)
Profile Of A Young Man Crowned With Foliage, In The Neo-Greek style
Pastel
22.5 x 11.5 cm without frame
Monogrammed lower right

Extremely rare pastel depicting a Profile of a young man crowned with foliage, in neo-Greek style by the photographer and draftsman Constant Puyo. This drawing is a mystery, there is in the collections of the Musée d'Orsay a photograph by Constant Puyo depicting the same subject. We believe that this drawing would have been executed by the artist from his photo, unless it is a preparatory drawing. Probably datable to around 1905.

Son of Gabriel Edmond Puyo, who was mayor of Morlaix, and Constance Le Bleis, Constant Puyo was a student of the class of 1875 at the École Polytechnique. He chose to become an officer in the French army in the artillery. Despite an exemplary military career, he was soon bored and devoted himself to painting and drawing. In the 1880s, he developed a passion for photography and became one of the leaders of French pictorialism alongside Émile Fréchon and Robert Demachy. With Jean Leclerc de Pulligny, he perfected a photographic device allowing artistic blurring. In 1894, he joined the Photo-Club de Paris, founded by Maurice Bucquet, of which he became president in 1921. He left the army in 1902 with the rank of major to devote himself exclusively to his career as a photographer. His work is published, among others, in the American magazine Camera Work. He is buried in Saint-Martin-des-Champs, near Morlaix.