Robert Raymond (1891-1946) - Soleil over Douarnenez

Oil on canvas mounted on panel
signed lower right
Dimensions 46.5 x 38 cm / With frame 57.5 x 66 cm

Robert RAYMOND was a 20th-century French painter born in Paris. A pupil of Joseph Castaing (1860-1918) and Emmanuel Fougerat (1869 - 1958), he exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français de Paris from 1926 to 1939. Robert Raymond was a member hors-concours, winning a silver medal in 1934, a gold medal in 1938 and the Prix Corot the same year for a painting entitled Les toits de Tréboul. Robert Raymond lived in Nantes and worked mainly in Brittany. His paintings of the Douarnenez region are the most popular, and it seems that the artist found some inspiration in Louis-Marie Désiré Lucas (1869 - 1949), both in his subjects of Plomarc'h, Douarnenez and Locronan, and in his pictorial technique. Like other artists of the early 20th century, Robert Raymond undoubtedly suffered from being the contemporary of major artists in a period of extreme artistic richness. Yet his work, which falls somewhere between academicism and impressionism, deserves greater recognition.

This beautiful Marine depicts a beach and the port of Douarnenez in the distance. The scene is perfectly composed, with a skilful superimposition of planes; in the foreground, slender pine trees give a glimpse of the sunlit harbor, and in the background, a large bay. The pastel palette depicts a radiant summer's day, with strollers on the beach and sailboats on the calm sea suggested with speed and skill. The pictorial treatment is carried out with synthetic flat tints and thick matter, in the manner of a work by Nicolas de Staël. This unpretentious painter has delivered one of his masterpieces here, a particularly pleasing view of this Breton coast. The painting is in perfect condition, cleaned and varnished. It is set in a Regency-style gilded wood frame.