Henri Gervex

Henri Gervex (Paris 10 December 1852 – 7 June 1929 Paris) was a French painter who studied painting under Alexandre Cabanel, Pierre-Nicolas Brisset, and Eugène Fromentin.

Biography

Early years

He was the son of Joséphine Peltier and Félix Nicolas Gervex, a piano maker. When he was 15, a friend of the family helped him get admitted to the atelier of Pierre-Nicolas Brisset. Three years later, he served in the 152nd Battalion of the National Guard. In 1871 he was accepted into the École des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel, where he studied for five years along with Jean-Louis Forain, Fernand Cormon, and Eugène Damas, a landscape painter. He also apprenticed himself to the Orientalist painter Eugène Fromentin.

Debut

His early work belonged almost exclusively to the mythological genre, which served as an excuse for the painting of the nude, but not always in the best of taste. His ''Rolla'' of 1878, based on a poem by Alfred de Musset, was rejected by the jury of the Salon de Paris for immorality, since it depicted a scene from the poem of a naked prostitute after having sex with her client. However, the censorship only made Gervex's painting even more famous, and launched the career of Gervex, then age 26. Although banned from the Salon, ''Rolla'' was exhibited in a nearby private gallery and became, according to the book ''Famous Pictures Reproduced from Renowned Paintings By the World's Greatest Artists'', "probably the most successful private exhibition made in Paris." The book also called ''Rolla'' "a masterpiece, one of the few real great works on modern art."

Gervex was one of many lovers entertained by the famous courtesan Valtesse de La Bigne. Their relationship was long and deep, with Gervex including the golden haired beauty in his piece of art called ''The Civil Marriage'' of 1881; here Valtesse De la Bigne is dressed from head to toe in blue, her favourite colour, standing beside a dark haired man with a moustache. Another painting of La Bigne inspired Émile Zola in the creation of his heroine for the novel '' Nana'', and Gervex himself was the model for the character of an opportunistic painter who appears in Zola's novel '' L'Œuvre'' (''The Work f Art', 1886).

Gervex afterwards devoted himself to representations of modern life and achieved signal success with his ''Dr Péan at the Salpétrière'' ("The Operation"), a modernized paraphrase, as it were, of Rembrandt's ''Anatomy Lesson''.

Career

He was entrusted with several important official paintings and the decoration of public buildings. Among the first are ''The Distribution of Awards'' (1889) at the ''Palais de l'Industrie'', ''The Coronation of Nicolas II'', ''The Mayors' Banquet'' (1900), and the portrait group ''La République Française''; and among the second, the ceiling for the Salle des Fêtes (ballroom) at the Hôtel de Ville, Paris, and the decorative panels painted in conjunction with Emile-Henri Blanchon for the mairie of the 19th arrondissement, Paris. For this work, Gervex received the Legion of Honour. He also painted, with Alfred Stevens, a panorama, ''The History of the Century'' (1889). The Musée du Luxembourg holds his painting ''Satyr Sporting with a Bacchante'', as well as the large ''Members of the Jury of the Salon'' (1885). Other pictures of importance, besides numerous portraits in oils and pastel, are '' The Birth of Venus,'' ''Communion at Trinity Church'', ''Return from the Ball'', ''Diana and Endymion'', ''Job'', ''Civil Marriage'', ''At the Ambassadeurs'', ''Yachting in the Archipelago'', ''Nana'', and ''Maternity''.RKD
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While traveling in Russia in 1893, he was commissioned by Czar Nicholas II to paint his coronation and individual portraits of the royal family.

In 1913 he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

His house and studio at 68 rue de Chavreau in Paris, which he built in the 1890s to give him the space to create large-scale works including his commissions for Nicholas II, was later purchased by dancer Isadora Duncan.

Works

File:Henri Gervex Cafe Scene in Paris 1877.jpg, ''Café Scene in Paris'', 1877
File:Gervex Cinq Heures Chez Paquin.jpg, Cinq Heures Chez Paquin
File:Une soirée au Pré Catelan - Henri Gervex.jpg, A soirée
File:Henri Gervex - Armenonville, le soir du Grand-Prix - P2709 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, Un soir de grand prix au pavillon d'Armenonville
File:The Birth of Venus (Gervex).jpg, The Birth of Venus (1907)
File:Henri Gervex - Portrait of the Couturier Madame Paquin.jpg, Portrait of the Couturier Madame Paquin
File:Henri Gervex - portrait of Colette Gervex.jpg, Portrait of Colette Gervex, daughter of Henri Gervex
File:Henri Gervex - Colette's First Steps.jpg, Colette's First Steps
File:Henri Gervex - Fillette dans un champ de coquelicots.jpg, Fillette dans un champ de coquelicots

Students

* Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861-1942)
* Georges Dubosc (1854-1927)
* Henry Gerbault (1863-1930)

Notes

References

*

External links

Works of Henri Gervex on Musée d'Orsay

Henri Gervex on Base Mistral/Joconde

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gervex, Henri
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
1852 births
1929 deaths
19th-century French painters
French male painters
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
Academic art
Painters from Paris
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
19th-century French male artists