Ferdinand Loyen du Puigaudeau (Kunst)

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Ferdinand Loyen du Puigaudeau(1864/1866-1930) is a painter with an identity and character all his own. Though his work bears similarities to the Realist, Impressionist, Symbolist, and Romantic movements, he remained outside the mainstream of these styles. His painting appears full of contradictions; bold and yet restrained, with a mixture of technical know how and naiveté. Representative of a stylistic approach almost unknown in France, his work is even comparable to that of the American Luminist painters of the same period. (Gauguin and the impressionists at Pont-Aven by Charles-Guy Le Paul, Judy Le Paul).

Ferdinand Loyen du Puigaudeau was born in Nantes. As a young boy he was close to his uncle Henri de Chateaubriant, who encouraged his artistic pursuits. Ferdinand’s education was very traditional, he studied at various boarding schools from Paris to Nice. In 1882, the young man traveled to Italy, then to Tunisia.

He traveled to Rome, Venice, and Florence and in 1886, like many young artists du Puigaudeau settled in Pont Aven, the small Breton village that had become a popular destination for aspiring artists. It was here that he met Paul Gaugin, with whom he struck up an immediate and lasting friendship. Gaugin nicknamed him Piccolo and invited him to accompany him on his first trip to the South seas (Panama and Martinique) in 1887. Unfortunatly Gaugin couldn’t join his friends, instead he had to join the army. Three years later Puigaudeau visited Belgium and there met the artists James Ensor, Toorop, Vogels and the sculptor Constantin Meunier.

In 1890, he presented his canvases for the first time at the Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts. Through his father he made accquainted Paul Durand-Ruel, who exhibited his paintings with those of Henry Delavallée. Puigaudeau married Blanche Van Den Brouke in 1893 and they had a daughter Odette who would become an ethnologist, writer, journalist and feminist.

In 1895 the family settled in Pont-Aven, Puigaudeau met Armand Seguin, the poet Ernest Dowson, American painters Childe Hassam and Harrison. In 1897 Degas purchased his “Fireworks” at Durand-Ruel, and since then they had enjoyed a long friendship. Three years later the family moved in Cagnes; despite the help of Durand-Ruel, Puigaudeau had to send his wife and daughter to Paris, so he could completely concentrate on his work.

Next, he traveled to Africa, Germany, and Switzerland. And by the early 1900s during his most prestigious period, du Puigaudeau had held an exhibition at the Galerie des Artistes Moderne in Paris and counted Edgar Degas amongst his patrons and was represented by the legendary dealer.

In 1903, he held his first solo exhibition at the Galerie des Artistes Modernes, a small catalog is published for the occasion. And in 1904, the artist broke off his relationship with Durand-Ruel and left for Venice, where Puigaudeau painted more than 50 canvases on the subject.
On his return to Paris, the artist found himself in a critical financial situation. His family had to move to the village of Bourg de Batz in Atlantic Loire, their friends lent them an austere villa Fort Hikerik. The artist found a new merchant in Nantes and exhibited at various regional Fairs. In 1907, Puigaudeau leased the manor Kervaudu on very favorable terms and settled permanently in the peninsula where he lived till his death. Kervaudu became the meeting place of all the artist’s friends of the artist – painters Emile Dezaunay Alexis de Broca and Jean-Emile Labourer, the writer Alphonse de Chateaubriant.

Received a grant to travel which permitted him to visit Sweden and to return to Brittany where settled permanently for the next 30 years.

Ferdinand Puigaudeau also knew Degas, Monet, and Renoir.

•Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana
•Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper, France
•Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
http://galeriemichael.com/artists/puigaudeau-ferdinand-loyen-du/