Masterpiece: Sunrise Over a Fishing Port, 1899, Henri Ottman French Colourist Oil on Canvas

The 1903 painting by Henri Louis Ottmann (1877-1927) which is in the Musée d'Orsay depicts vast train station with all its dynamism. Our painting, created three years earlier, shows a somewhat more tranquil fishing port, but there are strong similarities: the young artist, still in his twenties, is fascinated by industry, modernity, human endeavour.

This is underlined by his palette - Ottmann loved to picture the brooding steely blue-grey colours of the Low Countries in early morning light. His paintings are characterised by translucent tones and tonal consistency. It is telling that Ottmann regarded the work of Renoir very highly and learnt from studying his paintings.

Having trained at the Academie Julien in Paris, has Ottmann moved to Belgium in 1898 as one of the founder members of the "Labeur" association of Belgian artists. In 1903, he exhibited in Brussels with La Libre Esthetique, an avant-garde artistic circle.

He showed his work in the French capital again from 1905, at the Salon des Indépendants.

It has been argued that Ottman would have become one of the most influential artists of his generation, had his career not been cut short by a fatal car accident in 1927, when he was aged 50.

The Nantes Museum of Fine Arts keeps around ten paintings by Ottmann. The French National Contemporary Art Fund preserves a certain number of his works including the Sleeping Courtesan, which was presented among the so-called academic painters in the exhibition entitled Plural Modernities at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris from 2013 to 2015. Works by Ottmann are also in the museums of Rouen, Grenoble, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Royal Museums of Fine Art in Brussels.

Here is an exceptional work by this true colourist, depicting the world at the cusp of the 20th Century. Signed and dated (18)99 at the lower right, the oil on canvas measures 38 x 48 cm. The overall framed size in a period leaf gold scoop frame is 50.5 x 62 cm.

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.