Humble Field Flowers: Emile Compard, Friend of Bonnard, 1930s French Floral Still Life Bouquet Oil on Canvas

This little bouquet of field flowers is simply gorgeous in its simplicity. If it reminds you of works by Pierre Bonnard, there is a reason! Its painter, Emile Compard (1900-1977) was encouraged from an early age by the collector Richard Goetz, who would later introduce him to Félix Fénéon. Fénéon owned the Galerie Bermheim-Jeune where Pierre Bonnard was also represented. Bonnard and Compard became friends, and the two men actually regularly swapped artworks!

In the 1920s and 30s, Compard, a Parisien, spent much of his time in Brittany. He was encouraged by Matisse, and notably art critic Jean Paulhan.

The 1930s are Compard's first decade of glory: in 1930, he participated in a group exhibition at MoMA New York, and shows at the Munich and Berlin Sezessions. Compard realised a fresco for the 1937 Universal Exhibition, a study of which is now conserved at the Pompidou Centre.

Compard exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon des Tuileries, and the Salon d‘Automne.

The painting presented here stems from this period. It was acquired at an exhibition at the Galerie Saluden in Brest in 1939.

It is presented in its original hand-carved and gilded frame, with a period exhibition review by fellow artist Emile Jim Sevillec stuck to the stretcher.

(The Galerie Saluden was opened in 1907 by Anna Saluden. Although it was completely destroyed in a bombing in 1941, the family run reopened in after the war in Quimper, and is still in existence).

In the post war years, Emile Compard entered a second creative period: influenced by taoism and close to the artists Tal Coat, Degottex and Michaux, he would turn to abstraction. In 1947 - the very year of its creation - the French National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, acquired a work by the artist.

The work presented here is an oil on canvas measuring 41 x 33 cm. The overall framed size is 51 x 43 cm (some chipping to the gilding of the frame).

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.