Luigi Loir
(French/Austrian, 1845-1916)

"Devant la Musee"

gouache, chalk and graphite on cardboard
signed lower right. Glazed and framed.
sight 10" x 14"

Provenance: Simic Gallery, La Jolla, California; Private collection, Middleburg, Virginia.

Notes: Loir was born in Austria of French parents employed by the French Royal Court in exile. In 1847 the family relocated to the Duchy of Parma, where the young man was to enter l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts at the astonishing age of 9. Upon the completion of his studies, Loir moved to France to train under Jean Amable Amedee Pastelot (1810-1870). He had his debut at the Paris Salon in 1865; though he did not receive any medals, his work caught the attention of critics and patrons, and he spent several lucrative years working as a muralist, ceiling painter, and illustrator before deciding to concentrate on landscapes in 1870.

Enthralled by the vigorous urban progress of Belle Epoque France, Loir soon tuned his meticulous attentions to the architecture and denizens of Paris. One of the first to concentrate on such scenes of the bustling and energetic city, Loir influenced such later artists as Eugene Galien-Laloue (1854-1941) and Edouard Cortes (1882-1969). Considered the official painter of the boulevards of Paris, his depictions of his adopted city were admired for their authenticity and attention to architectural detail. Loir's technique included meticulous underdrawings that he frequently allowed to come through the paint surface. The success of this technique, and the impression of immediacy it creates, can be seen in the stunning painting offered here where Loir has intentionally rendered the central building - ostensibly the main subject - in graphite and chalk, with only hints of additional pigment. While such an approach was unusual for the period, it has the effect of immediately drawing the viewer's eye into the complexity of the composition. This effect is only enhanced by the masterful juxtaposition of the linear draftsmanship of the colonnade and the painterly impasto of the sky.

Loir received numerous awards and accolades, including a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1889, was named to the prestigious and influential Office d'Academie in 1889, and made a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1898.