Pierre de Belay (1890-1947) Portrait of a young woman

About this piece

Beautiful and intriguing portrait of a young woman, painted by the French painter Pierre de Belay (France, 1890-1947). The portrait was painted with gouache and pencil on paper in 1942. It is painted in a stylized, almost decorative style, which is influenced by 1937 engravings. It breathes the years 1930-1940, the period of Art Deco and Modernism.

The portrait is signed and dated lower left with: "P. de Belay, 1942".

Biography:
Pierre de Belay was born in Quimper, Brittany in 1890. From an early age he painted and drew everything he saw around him. He has painted many Breton landscapes, harbours with fishermen, people in traditional costumes, but also beautiful still lifes.
In 1919 he moved to Paris, where he went to live in Montparnasse, the artists' district of the time. He came into contact with many other artists and writers and learned a lot from them. He has portrayed many of them, including Max Jacob, James Ensor, Guillaume Apollinaire, James Joyce and Colette.

In Paris he paints the nightlife, the theaters and the people on the street, he does this in an expressionistic realistic style. Later in the 1930s his style changes, for a short period he makes almost caricatural works, think of Soutine, of lawyers and judges.
Later, in the mid-1930s, he also starts making engravings, which also changed his painting style. He worked a lot with shading on this portrait. It seems like a more stylized way of working, in line with the Art Deco period.

It was not until 1923 that he became successful, he became a much sought-after painter. He worked from 1923-1926 at the cultural magazine 'Harlequin'. In 1926 he also had his first solo exhibition in Paris, he had several solo expositions over the years, including in Stockholm (1939).
He also exhibits in the period 1926 - 1945 at various Parisian Salons, such as Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries.

Pierre de Belay dies in Ostend (Belgium) in 1947.

After his death there have been several retrospective exhibitions of his oeuvre, such as in Paris (1948 and 1951), in Quimper (1954) and in Brest (1955).
In 2001, his work was also included in a special exhibition the "Golden Age of Painting", Brittany, Musée de Vannes, La Cohue.

Today his work can be seen in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper, but also in the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, USA.

Literature:
- Bénézit: "Dictionary of Artists", Volume 2, Edition Gründ, Paris, 2006. P. 50-51.

Condition

Excellent