Signature p.d.: Louis de Laveaux
Paris at Night depicts a busy street, which despite the late hour is filled with strong, vibrant colors. Painted in de Laveaux's typical manner - bold yet delicate brushstrokes, with heavily impastoed areas. In this landscape, the painter's attention was drawn primarily to the lights of street lamps and storefronts, which illuminate a scene from the night life of a large, crowded city. Beginning in 1892, the artist moved away from air- and light-filled, views of the French capital. Influenced by his friend Alexander Gierymski, he succumbed to his fascination with the night city. As Aleksandra Melbechowska-Luty wrote:
"The years spent in Paris were the time of the 'outburst' of a particular passion, which engulfed Louis de Laveaux. He was increasingly troubled by the desire to solve the painterly problems of the nocturne, to capture and reproduce the peculiarities of a landscape viewed at night, wrestling the glow of the fading day or the artificial light of lanterns with the deep darkness enveloping the city. The same issues attracted Alexander Gierymski at the time, who took up nocturnes more seriously in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This type of painting posed considerable difficulties for the artist, as the image of a city seen at night has a peculiar artistic expression. Artificial light, which is placed on the walls of buildings, is reflected light; in the farther planes, night annihilates the clarity of shapes, blurs the contours of buildings, and sometimes flattens and falsifies perspective. [Nocturnes painted in Paris were the pinnacle of Louis de Laveaux's creative power. It was in them that he most fully expressed his passions, individuality, originality and innovation, and showed how "self-reliant" and free he was.
Between 1892 and 1893, works such as Opera Square in Paris (MNW), Paris Street at Night (MS³), and Moulin Rouge at Night (MNP) were created, adorning Polish museum collections. Opera Square in Paris shows a strong influence of Gierymski's painting, but our painting, like Moulin Rouge at Night, is an excellent example of de Laveaux's elaborate, individual and freer style. The painting comes from a British private collection, from which it was purchased by the current owner. De Laveaux was in England several times between 1890 and 1893, where he gifted his paintings to his host friends. Many of his works were purchased by citizens of France, England and even America, which resulted in a large dispersal of the artist's output.
Paintings by de Laveaux are extremely rare on the auction market, so the appearance of this work is a big treat for collectors and art lovers.
Bibliography:
- "Muses call me...", Ludwig de Laveaux (1868-1894), cat. exhibition, National Museum in Cracow, 2005.
Painter; studied with J. Matejko at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow from 1884 to 1890, and in the meantime also at the Munich Academy. During his studies he was friends with W. Tetmajer, W. Wodzinowski, S. Radziejowski, among others. After returning from Munich, he often painted in Bronowice and also traveled to Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains for plein-air studies. At the end of 1889, he left for Paris, where he became close with A. Gierymski. From Paris he came to the country several times; in 1891 he was in Brittany. The difficult material conditions he faced in Paris probably accelerated the development of lung disease and the artist's premature death. In 1901. S. Wyspiański recalled the painter's figure by introducing him in The Wedding as the Phantom of Marysia's deceased fiancé.
