Laprade, Nature Morte Au Buste, Oil on Canvas

Pierre Laprade (1975-1931)
Still life with bust
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
65 x 46 cm

Born in Narbonne in 1875, Pierre Laprade attended Antoine Bourdelle's studio from 1896. Although dedicated to the judiciary, the sculptor encouraged him in his artistic path. Laprade entered the Beaux-Arts de Paris, which he soon abandoned for the Académie Carrière. In reality, Laprade trained on his own, especially at the Louvre, where he admired Poussin, Le Lorrain, Delacroix and Manet. In 1900, Ambroise Vollard bought his first work. That same year, he met Henri Matisse and the future Fauves, with whom he exhibited in 1905 at the Salon d'Automne, of which he was a founding member. He took part in the Salon des Indépendants in 1901 and had a solo exhibition at Ambroise Vollard.

Touched by the Impressionists, he took after them his vaporous atmosphere, with forms diluted in soft light, often worked in full paste, to which he remained faithful throughout his life. His muted tones, refined greys and blues, faded pinks delicately harmonized in his landscapes, still lifes and figures of women and flowers, set him apart from the preoccupations of the Fauves, Cubists and Abstractionists.

In 1906, Laprade traveled to Italy and Holland, and exhibited collectively with Berthe Weill in Paris, then at the Armory Show in New York and Chicago in 1913. A founding member of the Salon des Tuileries, he participated until 1930.

In 1923 and 1925, Laprade executed a series of etchings for Vollard, which were used to illustrate Paul Verlaine's Les Fêtes galantes, and then painted the Churches and Cathedrals series. In 1926, he took part in the Jeune peinture contemporaine exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune and Galerie Katia Granoff. Until 1930, he illustrated literary works such as Vers et Prose by Paul Valéry and Un amour de Swann by Marcel Proust.

His works are held in public collections including the Musée du Louvre, the Centre Pompidou, the Petit-Palais, the Musée de Cognac, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Troyes and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.

Ref: SCA76WWSAX