”ANDALOUSIAN PARTY”, OIL ON TABLEX, JEAN-LOUIS PAGUENAUD (1876-1952).

“Andalusian Festival”, oil on hardboard, Jean-Louis Paguenaud (1876-1952). Signed and dedicated (“cantatrice Dupré”) in the lower right corner. Jean-Louis Paguenaud is the pseudonym of Jean-Philippe Paguenaud (1876-1952). He spent his childhood in Algiers, where he discovered the sea. When his father moved to Limoges, he studied at the School of Decorative Arts and worked in a porcelain factory. He furthered his training with William Bouguereau, delving into the world of seascapes, and made numerous trips to Martinique and North Africa, which he captured in gouaches and drawings. These were exhibited in 1905 at the Salon des Indépendants. His brother Joseph-Louis died in combat in 1914, and to honor his memory, he decided to sign his work with one of the deceased's names. Appointed Official Painter of the French Navy in 1922, he lived for a time in Paris before returning to Limoges. He participated in a well-known voyage on the ship "Lamotte-Piquet," which took him to Central and South America. His career can be divided into three periods: the formative period (1876-1902), the "orientalist" period (1902-1921), and a third period (1921-1942), when he was already the official painter of the Navy; he produced some more works between 1942 and 1952. His work can be seen in important private collections and in museums such as the Naval Museum in Paris, the Naval School of Bordeaux, the Town Hall of Coussac-Bonneval, etc. This work depicts an exterior scene, a town square in Andalusia, with numerous figures dressed in the region's traditional costumes celebrating a grand festival. Movement is provided by couples and groups dancing in the center, an orchestra on the left, diners on the right, and several couples on horseback throughout the composition. This entire scene shares the spotlight with the landscape: the facade of a church rises before a house and an old bridge, with a mountain in the background beneath a blue sky. Several characteristics of Paguenaud's work are clearly evident: the light, which he drew from Algiers and all his travels; the compositional mastery with which he arranges a large number of figures; the blue sky, also seen in his seascapes, etc. Furthermore, the originality of oil painting within the painter's artistic career, due to its subject matter, is noteworthy.

· Size: 233x5x175 int 213x152 cms