Louis Valtat (French 1869-1952)

The French painter and printmaker Louis Valtat was associated with the stylistic transition from Impressionism to Fauvism.

Early Life and Education

Louis Valtat was born on August 8, 1869, in Dieppe in northern France. His family owned a successful shipping business. He became interested in art through his father, an amateur painter. He spent a part of his childhood in Versailles, a Parisian suburb. When he was 17, he shifted to Paris proper to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. He studied with Gustave Boulanger, followed by Jules Lefebvre and later, Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant. Subsequently, he studied at the Académie Julian as a student of Jules Dupre. Here, he became friends with his fellow students Albert Andre, Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, and Edouard Vuillard.

After winning the Jauvin d'Attainville prize in 1890, Valtat set up his studio at rue La Glaciere in Paris. In his early work, he used mainly Impressionist and Pointillist techniques, depicting street scenes from his neighborhood with quick and light brushstrokes in bold colors. In 1893, he presented his first show at the Salon des Indépendants. In 1894, he collaborated with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Albert Andre to design theatre décor for the French theatre director and actor Lugné-Poe. At the same time, his work was exhibited at the Salon de Cent, a commercial exhibition in Paris. His exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants in 1896 found critical mention in “La Revue Blanche” by Félix Fénéon. These paintings were a precursor to the Fauvist style that developed almost a decade later. In 1899, he exhibited 20 paintings, under the title "Notations d'Agay, 1899," at an exhibition organized by Paul Signac at the Gallerie Durand Ruel. Soon after, a recommendation from Pierre-Auguste Renoir led to an arrangement by which the art dealer Ambroise Vollard bought most of his work for the coming decade.

The Mediterranean Phase

Valtat married his wife Suzanne in 1900. The same year, he started spending a lot of time in the Spanish Mediterranean to recover from tuberculosis. On these trips, he met Renoir and Signac and collaborated with the former on a bust of Paul Cezanne. He also made a number of ink sketches of Renoir. He would often travel in a small motorcar that he was given by Signac in exchange for the painting “Women at the Seashore.” This was a time when he experimented greatly with his work that was now being exhibited across Europe in Brussels, Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, and Moscow.

Valtat’s work was exhibited at the 1905 Salon d’Automne which also included artists such as Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Albert Marquet. The same year, after one of his paintings was reproduced in “L’Illustration,” he unwittingly became entangled in the controversy surrounding the Fauves, the style itself being considered most outrageously bold, emphasizing painterly qualities, simple lines, and strong colors. However, he remained separate from the Fauvist group on the whole, not entirely adopting their approach to the use of color and form.

Later Life and return to Paris

Valtat returned to live in Paris in 1914. He also spent some time in Versailles and Rouen. In 1924, he bought a house with a garden in Choisel and began spending a substantial part of his year there. He was visited in Choisel by friends like Georges d’Espagnat and Maximilien Luce. His subjects were chosen from what he saw around him, and he painted landscapes, scenes of contemporary life, and nature. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1927. He continued to paint until 1948, when he lost his sight due to glaucoma.

Death and Legacy

When Valtat died in Paris in 1952, he was 83. His body of work showed a concern with exploring pure color, consisting of landscapes, still-lifes, portraits, figure-studies, and flowers. Significantly, after his death, he was given the status of a “proto-Fauvist.”

Timeline

1869  -  Born in Dieppe

1886  -  Enrolls at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris

1890  -  Receives the Jauvin d'Attainville Prize

1894  -  Collaborates with Toulouse Lautrec on the sets of "l'Oeuvre"

1927  -  Appointed a chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur

1952  -  Dies in Choisel in France

Major Exhibitions

1893  -  Salon des Independants, Paris

1899  -  Galerie Duran Ruel, Paris

1900  -  Galerie Ambroise Vollard, Paris

1903  -  Salon d'Automne, Paris

1908  -  Moskva Tretyakov Galerie, Moscow

1912  -  Galerie Druet, Paris

1912  -  Galerie La Cave, Paris

1920  -  Galerie Royale, Brussels

1922  -  Galerie Druet, Paris

1951  -  Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris

1959  -  Musee du Château, Dieppe

1963  -  Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Nantes

1976  -  Museum of Modern Art, New York

1977  -  Galerie de Paris

1995  -  Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux

2010  -  Musee Brayer, Les Beaux de Provence

Museums / Collections

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A.

Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France

The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Art Institute of Chicago

Museum of Modern Art, New York

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Brooklyn Museum

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid

Musee des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux

Books / Publications

"Louis Valtat" by Raymond Cogniat

"Louis Valtat" by George Besson

"Louis Valtat" by Georges Braques and Charles Camoin