René Seyssaud, French Fauvist Oil On Canvas Landscape, Men Ploughingthe Fields

Mid 20th Century Fauvist oil on canvas, a landscape view, a farmer with men and horses ploughing a field by René Seyssaud. The painting is signed bottom right. There is a title 'Le Champ' and various exhibition and catalogue labels to the back stretchers. Presented in a fine custom gold frame.

Provenance: From the family of the artist.

This artwork vividly portrays rural life, capturing the essence of agricultural labor with a distinct Impressionist flair. The foreground features a figure diligently working in the fields, their movement conveyed through bold, dynamic brushstrokes. A sense of depth is achieved with a vivid palette, where earthy browns and lush greens blend seamlessly, reflecting the vitality of the land. In the background, two distant figures are ploughing the land with horses, sketched with a softer touch, creating a serene horizon that contrasts with the focused labour in the foreground. The sky, a delicate mix of blues and soft yellows, suggests the early hours of the day, enveloping the scene in a warm, inviting glow. The ornate golden frame with intricate leaf patterns adds an elegant touch, further enhancing the artwork's compelling depiction of pastoral life and its timeless beauty.

Seyssaud has shown a mastery of technique, the paint thick on the canvas in an impasto technique to give life and movement. Seyssaud favoured a medium, distemper (détrempe), which involved a mixture of painting, water and glue kept liquid in a bain marie. This technique allowed him to achieve a fluid touch and luminous colours, but required him to work very quickly and on a small-ish scale.

His vivid, stylised compositions frequently observe their subjects from above, place the horizon high with just a narrow strip of sky and employ strong diagonals and complex perspectives influenced by Japanese art.

René Seyssaud (1867-1952) was a Provençal painter, precursor of Fauvism, member of the New School of Avignon.

Although he was the child of a Vaucluse family, he was born on 15 June 1867 in Marseille, where his father was a lawyer. The latter enrolled him at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After the death of his father he joined his grandparents in Avignon who enrolled him there to continue his artistic studies with Pierre Grivolas as his teacher.

He stands out for his powerful temperament and bold palette of bright colours, which makes him a precursor of Fauvism. His first major exhibition took place in 1892 at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. He then participated at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Tuileries. His marriage in 1899 gave him the opportunity to settle in Villes-sur-Auzon, where he chose Mont Ventoux and the Gorges de la Nesque as pictorial themes. But suffering from tuberculosis, his doctors advised him to move closer to the sea and he moved in 1904 to Saint-Chamas where his workshop overlooked the Etang de Berre.

However, he often returned to the foot of Mount Ventoux and in the mid-1930s, he even set up a studio in Aurel.

At the urging of his friends Chabaud and Serra, he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour and died in Saint-Chamas on 24 September 1952. His features are preserved for us by the portrait painted by Pierre Ambrogiani and kept by the Paul-Lafran Municipal Museum in Saint-Chamas.

Seyssaud's paintings are held in important private and national collections including:

Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris :
Luzerne, 1925-1930, huile sur toile, 38,5 × 46 cm
Les Yeuses, 1915-1918, huile sur toile, 96 × 130 cm

Musée d'Orsay :
Les Rochers gris, vers 1920, huile sur toile, 100 × 81,3 cm
Les Oliviers, 1898, huile sur toile, 101 × 81 cm

Toulon, Musée d'Art : Paysans au travail, non daté, huile sur toile, 81 × 60 cm
Saint-Tropez, Musée de l'Annonciade : Bois de pins au crépuscule, huile sur toile, 41 × 61 cm

Albi, musée Toulouse-Lautrec : Une Maternité, huile sur toile
Avignon, musée Calvet : La Rivière en automne, vers 1910, huile sur toile, 92 × 73 cm
Berre-l'Étang, hotel de ville : Saint-Chamas, 1909, huile sur toile, 200 × 340 cm
Dijon, musée des Beaux-Arts :
Portrait d'enfant, 1890, huile sur toile, 45 × 36 cm
Raisins et figues, huile sur toile, 47 × 67 cm
Granville, Musée d'Art moderne Richard-Anacréon : Village provençal, huile sur toile, 66 × 100 cm

musée Cantini, Marseille :
Coup de Mistral sur l'étang de Berre, huile sur toile, 46 × 54 cm
Vallon de la Touloubre, 12 × 18 cm
musée des Beaux-Arts :
Chênes au couchant, huile sur toile, 74 × 93 cm
Mer de mistral à la Garonne, 1901, huile sur carton, 13 × 19 cm
Saint Chamas, les vieux toits, huile sur toile, 48 × 65 cm
Montpellier, musée Fabre : Saint-Chamas, bois de félibres, huile sur toile, 60,5 × 92 cm

En Russie:
Saint-Pétersbourg, Musée de l'Ermitage :
La Route, 1901, huile sur toile, 30,7 × 48 cm
Le Déjeuner d'un ouvrier, huile sur toile, 55 × 46 cm
Le Labour, huile sur toile, 46 × 60,5 cm

Condition report:

Good. Areas of paint losses to the corners, craquelure, marks, wear to the frame.