Watercolor 'Greek cultic rite' signed Louis Hista (1851-1934) for Émile Langlade (1863-1939)

Circular watercolor depicting a woman performing a Greek religious rite. Signed lower left "L. Hista" for Louis Hista (1851-1934). On the back, a handwritten label reads "To the charming poet Émile Langlade, with all my affection, December 1930," signed by the artist. See description below.
Framed in veneered wood.
Circa 1930
Dimensions: Diameter 11.5 cm, Depth: 1.2 cm

Louis Hista (1851-1934) was a French decorative painter active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He notably contributed to the decoration of the Grand Palais and the Collège de France. His personal work consists of urban landscapes and architectural views, often executed in watercolor, in the neoclassical style. He was recognized during his lifetime in artistic circles and cited by several critics of the time. More specifically, it appears in the work of the writer and poet Émile Langlade (1863-1939), "Artists of My Time," published by INSAP, volume 2, pages 49 to 55. In these pages, he pays him a beautiful tribute.

This watercolor was specifically dedicated to him (see handwritten note), and it directly references Émile Langlade's poetry collection "The Propylaea," published in 1896. Explicitly referencing the Propylaea of the Acropolis in Athens, they become a metaphor for initiatory passage, recalling, without describing them, the rites of transition present in ancient Greek cults (entrance into a temple, rites of passage, elevation of the soul).

This book, written in a philosophical and mystical style, evokes the symbolic threshold between the human and the sacred, as symbolically represented in the watercolor.

Ref: 4AU8WJIGJ1