Henri Michel-Lévy (July 11, 1844 in Passy, France - September 17, 1914 in Paris), was a French

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Biography

Henri was the third of the four sons of Michel Lévy and Thérèse Emerique, a Jewish couple originally from the

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

province in the north-east of France. Michel Lévy became a wealthy publisher in Paris, where Henri became a pupil of the painters Félix Barrias (1822-1907) and of Antoine Vollon (1833-1900). From 1868 to 1878, his paintings at the annual

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 ...

were cataloged under the name Henri-Michel Lévy or Michel Lévy; from 1879, he took the name Henri Michel-Lévy, perhaps to avoid confusion with his contemporary, the painter

Henri-Léopold Lévy Henri-Léopold Lévy (23 September 1840, Nancy, France, Nancy - 29 December 1904, Paris) was a French painter of Jewish ancestry, known primarily for mythological and Biblical subjects. Biography He was the son of an interior decorator and embr ...

. Michel-Lévy also became an

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

of some distinction, as can be seen from the works of

Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised 10 October 1684died 18 July 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as ...

, Boucher, Fragonard, Delacroix,

Hubert Robert Hubert Robert (; 22 May 1733 – 15 April 1808) was a French painter in the school of Romanticism, noted especially for his landscape paintings and capricci, or semi-fictitious picturesque depictions of ruins in Italy and of France.Jean de Cayeux ...

, Prud'hon,

Tiepolo Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; 5 March 1696 – 27 March 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an importa ...

, and numerous others included in the posthumous sale of his collection in 1919. His grave is located in the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

Work

Henri Michel-Lévy met regularly with French impressionists, in particular

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

and

Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...

. He was a portraitist and often painted subjects going about their usual business, a common thread in Impressionist painting. His painting of Eugène Boudin (1880) shows the famous painter sketching cows in the fields near

Deauville Deauville () is a communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados department, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its port, harbour, Race track, race course, marinas, con ...

. His subjects are not professionals but people in his social circle, like the wife of his friend, Edgar Degas, or his own family. From 1868 to 1914, Michel-Lévy exhibited at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

in Paris, where he was awarded honorable mention in 1880 and a third-class medal in 1881. He won a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1889. In 1878, he was painted by

in his atelier; the work was presented at the fourth Impressionist exhibition in 1879."Only the Best: Masterpieces of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon", K. Baetjer and J. D. Draper (Eds), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2000) p140, In the image, the painting to the right of Michel-Lévy was identified by Theodore Reff as ''The Regattas'', a painting by Michel-Lévy that was photographically documented but the whereabouts of which are unknown; the painting revisits the theme of Manet's '' Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe''. Michel-Lévy and Degas exchanged portraits of each other on that occasion, but soon after, Michel-Lévy sold Degas' painting, which drew Degas' disdainful comment: "You have done a despicable thing; you knew very well that I couldn't sell your portrait." In 1885, he painted the portrait of Auguste Guerbois, owner of

Café Guerbois Café Guerbois, on Avenue de Clichy in Paris, was the site of late 19th-century discussions and planning amongst artists, writers and art lovers – the '' bohèmes'' (bohemians), in contrast to the ''bourgeois''. Centered on Édouard Ma ...

, near

Place de Clichy The Place de Clichy (), also known as "Place Clichy", is situated in the northwestern quadrant of Paris. It is formed by the intersection of the Boulevard de Clichy, the Avenue Clichy, the Rue Clichy, the Boulevard des Batignolles, and the ...

and

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

, where painters met. Art historian Ronald Pickvance suggested that Michel-Lévy may have been the painter of the portrait ''Madame Lévy'', which is usually believed to have been painted by

. As a landscape painter, Henri Michel-Lévy focused on

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

life, away from the romantic views of the time, but a large portion of his exterior paintings dealt with middle-class life of the 19th century. An example is ''Le Pouligen, la plage'' at Museum Baron Martin, Gray, France, in a style reminiscent of Boudin's work.

In museums

* ''Le Peintre Eugène Boudin peignant des animaux dans la prairie de Deauville'' (1880), oil on canvas, 22 x 27 cm,

Museum of modern art André Malraux - MuMa A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, France * ''Auguste Guerbois'' (1885), oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

, Paris, France * ''La route de la Révolte, le soir'' (c. 1900),

Musée Carnavalet The Musée Carnavalet () in Paris is dedicated to the History of Paris, history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, ...

* ''La Nourrice'', oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Orléans, France * ''Ville balnéaire normande'' (about 1900), oil on canvas, 54.5 x 65 cm, Montebello Villa, Trouville, France * ''Le Pouligen, la plage'', oil on canvas, Baron Martin Museum,

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

, France * ''Bateaux sur la grève'',

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

File:Henri Michel-Lévy--Le Peintre Eugène Boudin--Andre Malraux museum.jpg, ''Le Peintre Eugène Boudin peignant des animaux dans la prairie de Deauville'' File:Michel-Lévy Auguste Guerbois.png, ''Auguste Guerbois'' File:Henri Michel-Lévy - La route de la Révolte, le soir - P2721 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, ''La route de la Révolte, le soir'' File:La Nourrice by Henri Michel-Levy.png, ''La Nourrice'' (the wet nurse) File:Le pouliguen, la plage.jpg, ''Le Pouliguen, la plage''

References

Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at :fr:Henri Michel-Lévy; see its history for attribution.

External links

Henri Michel-Lévy on Artnet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michel-Lévy, Henri 19th-century French painters French Impressionist painters Jewish painters 1844 births 1914 deaths 19th-century French Jews