Henri Delavallée (1862, Reims – 1943, Pont-Aven) was a French

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

painter who became a member of the artists colony in

Pont-Aven Pont-Aven (; in Breton) is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France. Demographics Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called in French. Pont-Aven absorbed the former commune of Nizon in 1954, which had ...

Biography

A fantastic student at school, in 1879 Delavallée enrolled simultaneously at the Sorbonne and at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

where he studied under the finest art teachers of the period:

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of Upper class, high society in French Third Republic, Third Rep ...

Luc-Olivier Merson Luc-Olivier Merson (21 May 1846 - 13 November 1920) was a French academic painter and illustrator. He was also known for his postage stamp and currency designs. Biography Born Nicolas Luc-Olivier Merson in Paris, France, he grew up in an arti ...

Henri Lehmann Henri Lehmann (; 14 April 1814 – 30 March 1882) was a German-born French historical painter and portraitist. Life Born Heinrich Salem Lehmann in Kiel, in the Duchy of Holstein, he received his first art tuition from his father Leo Lehmann ...

and

Ernest Hébert Antoine Auguste Ernest Hébert (; 3 November 1817 – 5 December 1908) was a French academic painter. Biography Hébert was born in Grenoble, son of a notary in Grenoble, and moved in 1835 to Paris to study law. He simultaneously took ar ...

. He also met Gabrielle Moreau, his future wife, while he was there. In the early 1880s, one of his artist friends, Hersart du Buron, encouraged him to go to

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

with him to find landscapes they could paint. They visited the island of

Ushant Ushant (; , ; , ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and in medieval times, Léon. In lower tiers of government, it is a commune in t ...

, Le Faouët and

Châteauneuf-du-Faou Châteauneuf-du-Faou (, before 1958: ''Châteauneuf'') is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Châteauneuf-du-Faou is located in the middle of Brittany, between Monts d'Arrée and Montagne Noi ...

before reaching Pont-Aven, where they stayed with his friend's cousins. In 1886, during one of his many stays in the village, he met

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

and

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (; 28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his no ...

."Henri Delavallée"
, ''Le Cabinet Rémois de la Généalogie''. Retrieved 21 May 2012.''L'aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin'', Paris, Skira, 2003, page 88. In 1887, thanks to his friend

Félix Bracquemond Félix Henri Bracquemond (; 22 May 1833 – 29 October 1914) was a French painter, etcher, and printmaker. He played a key role in the revival of printmaking, encouraging artists such as Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro to use ...

, he was introduced to

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

and

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...

. He worked with Pissarro, whose approach he particularly appreciated, in Marlotte, producing works in the

Divisionist Divisionism, also called chromoluminarism, is the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches that interact optically..Homer, William I. ''Seurat and the Science of Pain ...

and

Pointillist Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" ...

styles. In 1889, he also made etchings. From 1891 to 1896, he exhibited at

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (; 31 October 1831 – 5 February 1922) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he ...

's gallery, at the Société des Amis des Arts in Nantes, and at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

s. In 1894, he met

in Pont-Aven. In May 1895, he exhibited three works at Liège. In 1896, the family left Paris for Constantinople where he and his wife mixed with Turkish high society. In 1901, they returned to France and established their home in Pont-Aven where they associated with

Théodore Botrel Jean-Baptiste-Théodore-Marie Botrel (14 September 1868 – 28 July 1925) was a French singer-songwriter, poet and playwright. He is best known for his popular songs about his native Brittany, of which the most famous is ''La Paimpolaise''. Dur ...

. In 1941, the Galerie Saluden in Quimper put on a retrospective of his work. He died in 1943 in Pont-Aven where he is buried.

Gallery

File:Delavallée Bretonne pipe.jpg, Henri Delavallée's engraving ''Bretonne fumant la pipe devant l'âtre'' File:Delavallee La Rue au soleil 1887.jpg, Henri Delavallée's ''La rue au soleil à Port-Manech''. Painted around 1887 File:Delavallée Bretonne en noir.jpg, Henri Delavallée's ''Bretonne en noir'' dating to 1893 and held in the Quimper musée des beaux-arts File:Delavallée battage.jpg, Henri Delavallée's ''Scène de battage''. Women threshing. File:Delavallée Maisons en Bretagne.jpg, Henri Delavallée's ''Maisons en Bretagne''. Houses in Brittany

References

Bibliography

*Henri Delavallée, Daniel Morane, Musée de Pont-Aven: ''Henri Delavallée, 1862-1943: catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé'', Musée de Pont-Aven, 1996, 64 pp. {{DEFAULTSORT:Delavallee, Henri French Post-impressionist painters 19th-century French painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters 1862 births 1943 deaths Artists from Reims Painters from Grand Est Pont-Aven painters University of Paris alumni 19th-century French male artists