Louis Mathieu Verdilhan (24 November 1875 – 15 December 1928) was a French artist known especially for his paintings of the

Old Port of Marseille The Old Port of Marseille (French: ''Vieux-Port de Marseille'', ) is at the end of the Canebière, the major street of Marseille. It has been the natural harbour of the city since antiquity and is now the main popular place in Marseille. It became ...

. He was born in

Saint-Gilles-du-Gard Saint-Gilles (; Provençal: ''Sant Geli''; en, St. Giles) or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It is the second most populous commune in the Nîmes metropolitan area. History The abbey of Saint-Gilles ...

. His family moved to the Chartreux district in Marseille in 1877. Born into a poor family, he apprenticed to a house painter in 1890 but began drawing with the support of the Marseille artist

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. In 1895, he established a studio that he kept for his entire life, at No. 12 rue Fort-Notre-Dame. In 1898, he traveled for the first time to Paris and worked with the decorator Adrien Karbowsky to produce part of the ornamentation of the ''Salon du bois'' of the decorative arts pavilion for the 1900 World's Fair. He returned to Marseille in 1900. In 1902, he lost his left eye in an accident. His artistic career began in 1902 with an exhibition at Galeries Braun in Marseille and then, in 1905, an exhibition at the Palace of Architects at the Avenue du Prado. He exhibited in Paris in 1906 at the Salon des Indépendants. His early works were painted in a style reminiscent of

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and van Gogh. From 1907 to 1913 his work was influenced by

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 ...

and German Expressionism. From 1908 he participated regularly in the Salon d'Automne. In 1909, he spent six months in Versailles where he made many paintings. He occupied from 1910 to 1914 a workshop at No. 12 quay of Rive Neuve. Mobilized in Toulon during the First World War, Verdilhan met

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and was influenced by his work. He also met André Suarès and

Antoine Bourdelle Antoine Bourdelle (30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important fi ...

. After the war, he resided successively in Aix-en-Provence, Cassis and Toulon. On 16 March 1919, he married Hélène Casile, the younger daughter of painter

Alfred Casile Alfred Casile (1848–1909) was a French landscape and marine painter. Biography His mother was from an old, established Marseille family. His father was of Corsican origin and held a high position in the railroad company. He received his art ...

. He exhibited in New York at the gallery Kraushaar. The paintings he made between 1920 and 1926 are characterized by light, flat colors and harmonious forms bounded by simplified outlines.Chol et al., p. 68. In 1925 he painted a mural for the Provence pavilion of l'Exposition universelle. In 1926 he painted a decoration for the Opéra de Marseille: this painting represents the festival of 14 July in Marseille and was much criticized during the inauguration of the opera. His palette darkened in the works of his final years. He died of laryngeal cancer on 15 December 1928 in Marseilles. Verdilhan's brother was the painter and sculptor

André Alexandre Verdilhan André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...

(1881–1963).

Gallery

File:Louis-Mathieu Verdilhan - Paysage.jpg, ''Paysage - Aix-en-Provence'', ca. 1902–1907, Toulon, Musée d'Art File:Louis-Mathieu Verdilhan-Littoral Varois.jpg, ''Littoral Varois'', ca. 1907 File:Verdilhan - Le bar des colonies à Toulon.jpg, ''Le bar des colonies à Toulon'', ca. 1910–1915 File:Louis Mathieu Verdilhan Le Port des Martigues.jpg, ''Le Port de Martigues'', ca. 1913–1925 File:Louis Mathieu Verdilhan Le vieux-port de Marseille, 1905.jpg, ''Le vieux-port de Marseille'' File:Louis Mathieu Verdilhan Paysage, maison et cyprès.jpg, ''Paysage, maison et cyprès'' File:Verdilhan Louis-Mathieu - Le Grand Pavois dans le port de Marseille.jpg, ''Le Grand Pavois dans le port de Marseille'' File:Verdilhan-Vieux port de Marseille.jpg, ''Vieux port de Marseille'', 1927

Notes

References

*Chol, Daniel, Jean Chol, Huguette Lasalle, and Louis-Mathieu Verdilhan (1991). ''Louis-Mathieu Verdilhan, Peintre de Marseille''. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud. . *Chol, Daniel (2005). ''Louis Mathieu Verdilhan (1875-1928), carillonneur de couleurs, architecte de la forme''. Ediz. Chol. . *Alauzen, André-Laurent-Noet (2006). ''Dictionnaire des peintres et sculpteurs de Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur''. Marseille: Ediz. Jeanne Laffitte. . *Soubiran, Jean-Roger (1987). ''La peinture en Provence dans les collections du Musée de Toulon du XVIIe au début du XXe siècle''. Toulon: Musée de Toulon. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Verdilhan, Louis Mathieu 1875 births 1928 deaths 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters Artists from Marseille