Legout Gerard French School Breton Painting XIXè Market in Rostrenen Oil Canvas Signed

LEGOUT-GERARD Fernand (1856/1924) 

Market scene in Rostrenen.

Oil on canvas signed lower left.

38x56 cm

Certificate of authenticity.

Museums: Paris (Petit Palais Museum)

Fernand Legout-Gérard, Born October 29, 1856 / Died August 14, 1924 Painter of the Navy, born in Saint-Leu, Fernand Legout-Gérard set up his studio in Concarneau to devote himself definitively to painting in 1903, after having started early career in financial administration like his father. He exhibited regularly in Paris, first at the Société des Artistes Français from 1889 to 1894, then at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts from 1894. He is also present in the Salons of the large provincial towns (for example in Reims from 1890 to 1903), and even abroad, where he is well known to artistic circles. Many times awarded, Bronze Medal in 1900 at the Universal Exhibition, appointed painter of the Ministry of the Navy, Officer of the Legion of Honor, we owe him a large number of scenes from popular life in Brittany, which have made his mark. success and reputation. Concarneau is one of its privileged places to evoke the picturesque scenes of Breton markets, quays, the activity of the port and its inhabitants, views of the ocean. Realist painter, he carries his easel and happily mixes with the crowd and local entertainment. It depicts the Breton women in their traditional costumes, awaiting the return of the fishermen against the backdrop of ramparts or the sunset in the bay, nets and sailboats. From his vast studio, he overlooks the coast so admired by the artists of his time. And when he is not in the markets, the artist likes to paint and draw views of de la Forêt-Fouesnant at dusk. Besides Normandy, Legout-Gérard painted in Paris, where he lived in winter, in Italy, particularly in Venice, in Greece and in North Africa. Besides his activity as a painter, Legout-Gérard devotes an important part of his career to engraving. His works are kept in many regional museums. Charged with all the affectivity of a past community, they represent an iconographic reference in Concarnoise painting through scenes from the life of fishermen and Breton peasants.