LOUIS VALTAT (1869-1952)
Sous-bois au Printemps, ca. 1928

Oil on canvas 46 x 55 cm Provenance: Gaston Levy, Paris (probably bought directly from the artist) Andree Levy, Paris Private collection, Europe Mr Julien Valtat confirmed authenticity of this work Sous-bois au Printemps, realised around 1928 by the French painter Louis Valtat (1869-1952), reflects the artist’s style during his long convalescence on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Ill with tuberculosis, he spent many seasons in some southern towns like Saint-Tropez, where he met occasionally with Renoir who was in Cagnes-sur-mer. This period saw his brushstrokes become more audacious and his style more energetic, although he never fully adopted that bold saturation typical to the fauves. Famous landscape and seascape painter, Valtat was born in Dieppe, France. His father, passionate for painting, was probably the reason why he approached this world. First at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and then at the Barbizon School, he developed a style that combined Impressionism with Pointillism at first, to then tend to a more Fauvist approach. Unable to paint because of his illness during the last years of his life, he died in Paris in 1952. His works are kept in many prestigious collections like the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the MOMA.