Very well painted and striking PAIR of original oils, by the listed French artist Alexandre Claude Louis Lavalley (1862 - 1923), painted in 1915.
Two studies of nude women after bathing; the first a seated figure, the second standing with another figure in the background, both within some form of cavernous interior.
The first fully signed "A C Louis Lavalley" lower left and dated 1915 lower right, signed again on the stretcher crossbar and with an indistinct artists' colourman's stamp on the stretcher. The second signed on the stretcher crossbar, with the “Modèle Déposé B” stamp on the crossbar - the Bourgeois Ainé company was among the largest producers of painting requisites in France and had their stretcher pattern patented with the trademark modèle déposé B, which was regarded as the quality-seal of the age [Bourgeois Ainé 1888, p. 86].
Both oils on canvas, retained in their original stretchers, in later, matching 'ebony' stained, fluted wood frames, with thin gilt slips.
Both paintings in very good original condition, with some light surface dirt (see photos). The second (standing figure) has a small old repair lower left, a light surface scratch to the right of the background figure's leg and a second small scratch on the far right (see photos). Both frames are in good clean condition (see photos). Please note there is some light reflection in the photos, which I have tried to eliminate by including images from different angles - this is not of course on the paintings themselves.
Image 52.5cm x 43.5cm, frame 67cm x 58cm, in both cases.
Come with our Certificate of Authenticity, guaranteed authentic and original.
Delivered ready to hang.
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Alexandre Claude Louis Lavalley 1862 – 1923
French figure, landscape and mural painter in oils and
occasionally watercolours.
Alexandre Claude Louis Lavalley was born on the 9th
August 1862 in Paris, the first child of Paul Louis Lavalley (1830-1885),
architect of the public buildings of the City of Paris, and Louise Clémence
Bereytter (born in 1834). He was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris
in the studios of Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889), Théodore Maillot (1826-1888)
and William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905). He won the first Grand Prix de Rome
in 1891 for his painting Jupiter and Mercury received by Philemon and Baucis.
Taking up the Prix de Rome scholarship, in 1892 he studied at the French
Academy in Rome until 1895.
He exhibited at the Salon des artistes Français, won several
awards and became a member in 1905. He participated with his colleagues in the
working group called Le Groupe en section peinture. He painted mainly in oils, but
also frescos and made posters and drawings for the Gobelins factory.
He painted mainly figure studies, portraits and some
landscapes, including several of the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel. His second home was
in Genêts and his Parisian studio at 81, Rue Lemercier, in 1897 he was
domiciled at 65, Rue Lepic. He was the father of the painter Paul Lavalley
(1883-1967) and his daughter Claude who married the art critic Waldemar-George
(1893-1970), who wrote an obituary in memory of his father-in-law in 1928 in La
Presse.
Alexandre Claude Louis Lavalley died in Paris during April
1927.
Selected works in public collections:
United States - Cleveland Museum
of Art: The Woman with the Fan.
France - Bordeaux, Museum of Fine
Arts: A Cythère
Châteauroux, hôtel de préfecture
d'Indre-et-Loire : Femme nue, 1915
Genêts, Notre-Dame Church: Christ
Coming Out of the Tomb
Niort, Le Meurtre de Claude, 1886
Paris - École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts: Philémon
et Baucis, 1891; First line of the life of Cato d'Utique, 1885; Vercingetorix
going to Caesar; The Triumph of Mordecai; Painted figure; Decoration of a wall
of a vestibule for the Universal Exhibition, 1886, for competition of the Prize
of Attainville; Faune à la flûte, 1881; Decoration of a museum room, for the
Jauvin d'Attainville prize competition.
Selected exhibitions
Salon of French artists:
1890: honourable mention, Portrait
of M. Pierre L... (n°1400); Portrait of Ms. A.B... (n°1401).
1897: 3rd class medal, Les Noces de
Flore (n°981); Portrait of Ms. J.G... (No. 982).
1903: 2nd class medal, Portrait of
my mother (n°1074); In Cythera (n°1075).
1910: Portrait (n°1137); Portait
(n°1138).
1913: Floréal, Messidor,
Fructidor, Frimaire,panel, purchased by the State, June 27, 1913.
Exhibition "From Antigone to
Marianne", Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris,
2017: Vercingetorix going to Caesar.
Awards:
1881: 3rd medal, prize for the
figure drawn after the antique for Faune à la flûte.
1891: First Grand Prix de Rome in painting.
Bibliography:
Bénézit Dictionary.
Gérald Schurr, Les Petits Maîtres
de la peinture, 1820-1920, vol.2, Paris, L'Amateur, 1982, p. 92.
Waldemar-George,"In
Memoriam," La Presse, 1928.