Étienne Joseph Mathieu Terrus (22 September 1857 in

Elne Elne (; ca, Elna ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It lies in the former province of Roussillon, of which it was the first capital, being later replaced by Perpignan. Its inhabitants are still called ...

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

– 22 June 1922 in Elne) was a French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

from

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; ca, Rosselló ; oc, Rosselhon ) is a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the reg ...

. When he was 17 years old, he went to Paris to study but soon after, he went back to Elne, where he produced most of his works. He used to walk with his easel and he is considered one of the precursors of

Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

. During his life, he was very much appreciated by artists like

George-Daniel de Monfreid George-Daniel de Monfreid (14 March 1856 – 26 November 1929) was a French painter and art collector. He was born at New York City, in the United States, but spent his childhood in the south of France. Early he decided on a career in art, ...

André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. Biography Early years Derain was born in 1880 in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France, just outside Paris. I ...

, and Henri Matisse, who was his penpal from 1905 to 1917. In 1994, a museum about him was inaugurated in his birth town, and, in 1998, his works were shown in the exhibition "Le Roussillon à l'origine de l'Art Moderne" in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

. The Terrus Museum in

in the south of France is dedicated to paintings by Terrus. In 2018, it was discovered that more than half its collection, 82 works, were counterfeit. It was thought that works by other regional artists in other locations might also be counterfeit.

References

Bibliography

* Madeleine Raynal, « Étienne Terrus », ''Conflent'', n° 181, janvier-février 1993, p. 2–6.

External links

Buste d'Étienne Terrus par Aristide MaillolPortrait d'Étienne Terrus par Maximilien Luce
1857 births 1922 deaths People from Pyrénées-Orientales 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Painters from Catalonia 19th-century French male artists {{France-painter-19thC-stub