ANDRE DELAUZIERES

(French, 1904-1941)

STEAM LOCOMOTIVE AT BRY-SUR-MARNE

Oil on Canvas

23¾ x 36¼ Inches

Signed Lower Right, "A. Delauzieres" and Dated 1936

Titled Lower Right, "Bry-Sur-Marne"

 

A substantial, Impressionist-style oil landscape showing a panoramic view of the valley of the River Marne with the village of Bry-sur-Marne in the distance. The valley and the rolling hills beyond are suffused by the early light of day and, in the distance, the steam from the Marne train rises into the violet-tinged, dawn sky.

 

André Delauzieres first studied with his father, the Modernist painter Gaston Balande, who frequently painted him as a child. He continued his training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Lucien Simon who was appointed professor there in 1923. It was in this class that Delauzieres formed a life-long friendship with his fellow-artist, Yves Brayer and, later, with Jean-Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian. Delauzieres first exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1926 and continued to exhibit there annually. In 1934, he was awarded the Prix Coloniale des Beaux-Arts which allowed him to travel and paint in North Africa where his palette both lightened and brightened. In 1935, he won the Bernheim de Villiers prize at the Salon des Artistes Français and, in 1939, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique prize. In 1940, Delauziere's promising future was cut tragically short when he succumbed to wounds that he sustained defending his country against the German invasion.

 

Reference:

E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 4, p. 393; Vollmer Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler des 20. Jarhhunderts, Hans Vollmer, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 1, p. 537; et al.