Jules-alexandre Grün (1868-1938) Portrait Of Petit Robert, 1897

Jules-Alexandre Grün (1868-1938)
Portrait of little Robert Baudoin, 1897
Pastel on canvas
100 x 47 cm
(119 x 65 cm with frame)
Signed and dedicated lower left "A mon petit ami Robert Baudoin, 29 mai 97"

Born in Paris in 1868, Jules Alexandre Grün started with Adam, then the most widespread decorator in Paris, then became a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Lavastre, painter and decorator at the Paris Opera. Grün then has only one desire, that of painting still lifes and landscapes: because we must not lose sight of the draftsman and the poster designer, the real painter, admirer of Joseph Bail who influenced him a lot. In 1881, the famous Chat Noir cabaret opened. Grün, then a teenager, was fascinated by shadow theatre. Later, he naturally became the author of small pieces for La Corneille and Le Decadent's Concert. It was his meeting with Léon Xanrof, a famous French chansonnier, in 1890 that marked the beginning of his career as an illustrator: Xanrof commissioned him to illustrate one of his volumes. Very quickly in Paris, we want "du Grün" for its personal and new note, which still illustrates so well today the spirit of Paris 1900. Recognizable by a frank opposition of black and white brightened up with red, Grün produces the posters great Parisian music halls (Moulin Rouge, Au Violon…) and Montmartre café-concerts. We recognize her in her advertisements and her satirical drawings for the press (L'assiette au beurre, Cocorico), a face of a woman specific to her time and her district, Montmartre: sometimes brunette, sometimes blonde, but always the same carefree cheerfulness. on a laughing face, the same fluffy hair. Grün continued to exhibit at the Salon of French Artists at the same time, and the Under Secretary of State for Fine Arts commissioned him in 1911, for the 30th anniversary of the Salon, to produce his masterpiece A Friday at the Salon of French Artists (Musée des Beaux -Arts of Rouen) where we recognize 104 personalities including Harpignies, Cormon, Bonnat, or even Sem.