ACHILLE LAUGÉ (1861-1944) ROUTE D'AUTOMNE, 1922 Oil... Lot 27

ACHILLE LAUGÉ (1861-1944) ROUTE D'AUTOMNE, 1922 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right Oil on canvas; signed and dated lower right 50 X 73 CM - 19 3/4 X 28 3/4 IN. PROVENANCE A certificate of Mrs Nicole Tamburini will be given to the buyer. Sale, Paris, Cornette de Saint-Cyr, February 21, 2004, lot 213. Acquired during this sale by the current owner. Private collection, France. A child of the Occitan country, Achille Laugé mainly portrayed the warm light of the bucolic landscapes that he loved so much. A student at the Beaux-Arts during the Belle Époque, Laugé was a witness to his time and gives us his interpretation of neo-impressionism; the detachment of the brushstrokes, the transmission of luminous vibrations through country landscapes characteristic of his work. Indeed, Laugé does not lose himself in details of decor, does not wish to present a scene of everyday life, but concentrates on its composition and its colors. Although the artist also left us portraits, it is his road scenes that best embody him. Although he was not a fervent pointillist - no direct correspondence between Seurat and Laugé has come down to us - it seems likely that the young Achille was not insensitive to them. Our oil on canvas borrows from this technique, notably through the treatment of the small dot. However, it is certain that Laugé retains a freer hand, which escapes the shackles of theoretical painting, and that he plays with the divisionist rules by using the line. The latter, present in the shape of the hills and trees, is well highlighted by a royal blue line which is not without recalling the influence of Gauguin. Unlike Gauguin, his source of inspiration remained the Aude, not the exotic islands, which he knew how to sublimate through time, transforming his paintings with the seasons.