Léonard Jarraud

Léonard Jarraud (around 1920)

Léonard Jarraud (born February 24, 1848 in La Couronne ; † August 3, 1926 there ) was a French painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of his works are in the Musée d'Angoulême in his homeland, the Charente .

biography

At the age of 18, Léonard Jarraud went to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He made contact with Jean-Léon Gérôme , the history painter Lavigne and the sculptor Laville, but his years of efforts for recognition and a Rome scholarship ( Prix ​​de Rome ) were unsuccessful. Sometimes he would go on short trips to the seaside or on excursions in the countryside. But more and more often he turned his back on the European art metropolis and returned to his homeland in the Charente , where he met other painters, with whom he organized an exhibition in 1885 ( Exposition Charentaise des Beaux-Arts ). Since 1889 he lived - apart from a few short stays in Paris - in poor conditions in his mother's house in La Couronne. She died in 1910 and so he spent the last years of his life unmarried and childless.

Late recognition

In 1891, Léonard Jarraud sent five paintings (four portraits and a landscape) to the first Salon du Champ de Mars in Paris; these were received with praise by the critics (including Pierre Puvis de Chavannes ). He also took part in the exhibition the following year and again received recognition from art criticism; however, he was not personally present. This - partly self-chosen - abstinence from the contemporary art business soon made him fall back into oblivion.

plant

subjects

Léonard Jarraud's work, which consists of many small formats, is characterized by a high degree of realism, which is reminiscent of Gustave Courbet or Jean-François Millet and can be found in his portraits as well as in the landscape paintings , still lifes and genre paintings - monumental history paintings as well as biblical or mythological ones Subjects are unknown to him.

style

Léonard Jarraud's color palette consists almost entirely of mixed tones; strong local colors do not correspond to his painting style. His brushwork is soft and flowing, completely dispensing with hard lines and other graphic elements; this gives his pictures some impressionistic traits. The play of light and shadow also plays a not insignificant role in his painting - not in bright, sun-drenched landscapes, but rather as a subdued twilight. Léonard Jarraud remained unaffected by the art-historical innovations of his time ( cubism , expressionism , abstract art, etc.); his style of painting was called 'idealistic realism'.

photos

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  Sea at Royan (1871)

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  Plate with Herring (1871)

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  Light games on the sea (around 1872)

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  Kitchen scene (1874)

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  Old man and pendulum clock (1874)

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  The street (around 1880)

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  Portrait of M. Donzole (1887)

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  Sunset (undated)

literature

• Béatrice Rolin: Léonard Jarraud (1848–1926) ou le “réalisme idéaliste”. Angoulême, Musée des Beaux-Arts 1988, ISBN 978-2-9052-2102-5 .

Web links

Commons : Léonard Jarraud  - Collection of images, videos and audio files