VICTOR DI GESU

(American, 1914-1988)

LA  NUE HOLLANDAISE (CHEZ L’HOTE)

Oil on Canvas

32 x 40 Inches

Signed Lower Right

Exhibited: California State Fair and Exhibition, 1965

Born in Maryland in 1915, this California figural painter and Abstract Expressionist first attended the Chouinard Art Center in Los Angeles before moving to Paris where he studied with Andre L’Hote at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. Di Gesu subsequently attended the Escuela de Belles Artes in Barcelona before furthering his studies in Italy. After this exposure to the ferment of European artistic movements, Di Gesu returned to California, and worked with a variety of artists including F.Tolles Chamberlain and Maynard Jepson. An intuitive colorist, di Gesu's classical training and additional research into Modernist color theory enabled him to create vivid yet harmonious works which, while reminiscent of Matisse and Gauguin, retained an originality and spontaneity that was uniquely his own. Di Gesu was a prolific artist and the recipient of numerous medals and awards, both in the United States and France. He exhibited widely and with much success including at The Louvre Museum (Paris); the Exposition des Artistes Etrangeres, (Paris); the Salon D'Automne, (Paris); Salon Des Artes Decoratifs, (Paris); The San Francisco Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum. We are pleased to offer a major figural painting by this notable California Modernist.