Orientalist market scene by Léon CAUVY

Beautiful oil on panel measuring 27cm x 40cm plus period frame 59cm x 72cm
signed lower left Léon CAUVY 1874-1933
Léon Cauvy born on January 12, 1874 in Montpellier (Hérault) and died on January 3, 1933 in Algiers is a French painter.
Léon Cauvy entered the Montpellier School of Fine Arts in 1890 and quickly won awards in drawing, wash painting, shadow projection and perspective. His training was rigorous and oriented him more towards decoration. He then participated in the 1901, 1902 and 1903 Salons with decorative works.
At the 1907 Salon, he won a 3rd medal for painting and the same year he was awarded a grant for the Villa Abd-el-Tif in Algiers. He was one of the first two laureates with Paul Jouve in the competition for access to this new institution and fell under the spell of Algeria. He obtained a great success in Paris in 1909, at the exhibition of the orientalist painters, he exposed fifty paintings of his Algerian stay and he decided to remain in Algeria. The light of Algiers, the life of the city, its port, its inhabitants, their costumes, small trades, Arab markets, gardens, but also cemeteries are all subjects of inspiration.
In 1909, at the end of his residence at the Villa Abd-el-Tif, he became director of the School of Fine Arts in Algiers until his death. André Greck was his student. His presence, the quality of his painting and his teaching were assets for the development of the cultural life of Algiers.
In 1925, he was entrusted with the decoration of the Algerian pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. This masterful work is transported to the Palais d'été in Algiers. In 1930, he designed the poster for the centenary of the French presence in Algeria. With a print run of 30,000 copies, it was distributed throughout the world to ensure the influence of France, but also that of Cauvy, whose reputation became international. He produced other posters for the maritime tourism companies in Algeria.
Poster created by Léon Cauvy in 1929 for the Centenary of French Algeria (1830-1930).
In 1932, he painted Les Ouled-Naïls, a large painting exhibited the same year at the Salon des artistes français and acquired in 1990 by the Musée des Années Trente in Boulogne-Billancourt. His paintings are sometimes treated in flat areas, in an aesthetic close to that of tapestry.
Artist benefiting from a growing coast
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Ref: CL76GB48G2