LOUIS VALTAT PAINTINGS FOR SALE & BIOGRAPHY

LOUIS VALTAT

French, 1869–1952

BIOGRAPHY
"Louis Valtat came from a wealthy Dieppe family of shipbuilders. He moved to the Paris region at a young age and completed a classical education at the Lycée Hoche in Versailles. Encouraged in his vocation by his father, himself an amateur painter, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1887. He frequented the studios of Boulanger, Lefebvre and Harpignies before later spending a brief period in the studio of Gustave Moreau. He also studied at the Académie Julian where he met Bonnard, Vuillard, Georges d'Espagnat and Albert André, who became one of his closest friends. He travelled and spent a great deal of time abroad: in England (1894); in Spain with Henri de Montfried (1895); in Banyuls-sur-Mer; in Collioure in the company of Maillol; in Italy (Florence and Venice) (1902); in Algeria (1903); and in Anthéor (regularly from 1899 to 1913). In 1913 he left Anthéor and settled first in Paris, then from 1924 in Choisel in the Chevreuse Valley. He was awarded the Prix Jauvin d'Attainville in the landscape section of the Salon d'Automne in 1890 and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur.

"Valtat took part in group exhibitions including the Salon des Indépendants in Paris (from 1889), the first Salon d'Automne in Paris (1903) and the Salon d'Automne celebrated for introducing the Fauves (1905), as well as the Salon des Tuileries. He also showed his work in solo exhibitions in the Vollard and Druet galleries in Paris. In 1952 the Salon d'Automne held a major retrospective of his work that revealed the quality of Valtat's talent and his place in history to a wider public. Other retrospectives include those at the Musée Galliera in Paris in 1956, at the Fondation Ghez in Geneva in 1969, and at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux in 1995." (Benezit, Dictionary of Artists, Gründ, 2006).

Mark Murray Fine Paintings is a New York gallery specializing in buying and selling 19th century and early 20th century artwork.