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Mid century oil Painting - Still Life with Lemons by George Louis Claude
An eye-catching early mid century oil painting on board. A still life oil painting - a simple bowl of lemons - wonderfully executed. George Louis Claude has combined vivid citrus shades and softer tones using a strong confident brush stroke to paint the lemons, which are set against a dramatic backdrop of indigos and darker shades. This brings to mind the artist's revered status as a stained glass artist, using his ability to create such a powerful painting by juxtaposing strong colours.
History ~ Signed, G L C, 1936, bottom right.
GEORGE LOUIS CLAUDE (1879 - 1963). Claude is a well-recognised and established artist. He had an illustrious career engaging in many artistic mediums, from that of a decorator who created emblematic buildings during the early 1900s, to designing carefully produced stained glass window installations and ceramic art works. Throughout his artistic life he was also a dedicated and admired painter.
Claude originally studied at the Bernard Palissy School of Drawings in Paris. Whilst he was interested in many areas including still life and portraiture, the art of wall decoration became his preferred medium at this time. Thus he embarked on a career as an architectural decorator, with his first engagement at Galland House, Paris. Following this he collaborated with the Orientalist architect Alexandre Marcel. When he achieved recognition at the prestigious Universal Exhibition of 1900, Claude decided that he no longer needed to collaborate with others and started working independently. Quickly he became very successful, working for some of the most powerful and influential European personalities of the early 1900s. Amongst his commissions were palaces for King Leopold II and the Belgian Royal Palace of Laeken (Japanese Tower and Chinese Pavilion). Baron Empain acquired his services and Claude travelled to Egypt, where he decorated Heliopolis, and the Palace Hotel (which is the current seat of the Egyptian presidency) - such projects were without equivalence at that time. The fashion of the era was all about Orientalism, it was Claude's time - he had the confidence in his own design ability and the previous experience earned whilst working for Alexandre Marcel.
Everything changed with the outbreak of World War I. Claude served and in 1917 returned from the front injured. From this time onwards his projects became more partisan and he worked on several buildings in Paris. Combining his decorators’ skills with his early interest in stained glass, he rediscovered this medium and decorated, amongst other buildings, the Chapel of the Dead at the Saint François-Xavier Church in Paris. From this time onwards working stained glass became an important medium of expression. Once again Claude excelled - receiving a prestigious prize for stained glass at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1925. As a highly collaborative artist, Claude worked with other significant glassmakers of the time, such as Chigot, Dagrant, Balmet, all of whom became close friends. Constantly evolving as a creative artist Claude also pursued his interest in ceramics. Once again he became highly accomplished in this medium – receiving state commissions and winning a prestigious prize at the French Exhibition in Cairo in 1929. Between 1923 to 1938, Claude was a Professor at the Paris School of Applied Arts. His students included the future master glassmaker Paul Bonny and the poster artist Hervé Morvan.
Throughout his artistic career Claude never stopped drawing and painting, this was a vital part of his creative focus. In later years he settled in Brittany, in the Vannes region then moved to Provence, finally he settled permanently in a suburb of Paris.
Condition ~ Good antique condition, period frame, not original.
