The Most Unusual Christmas Painting! Provence the South of France, Still Life with Santon Figures, 1942 Oil on Canvas

And it is not just for Chrisrmas!

For 21st century eyes, this is the most unusual still life! For the artist, Camille Descossy however, the objects depicted would have been very familiar ones.

Descossy (1904-1980) was an artist from Occitania, and what we see on the provençal chair with a straw seat are "Santons", the traditional mediterranean nativity figures placed around the manger.

They come in different types: Neapolitan santons tend to be between 25 and 45cm high, are modelled from wood and wire so that they can take various postures, and are dressed in heavily starched clothing. As popular in the South of France as in Italy, you will recognise the as the larger figures.

Santons from Provence are between 5 and 15 cm high, are modelled from clay and painted. The first clay santons were created by Marseillais artisan Lagnel (1761-1822) during the French Revolution, when churches were forcibly closed and their large nativity scenes prohibited.

I have heard the story that the santons - representing village people such as the miller, the mayor, the baker and the farmer's wife - were tolerated by the revolutionary authorities precisely because the were not religious. They have been part of life in Provence ever since, and this is what Descossy is presenting in this still life from 1942.I love this still life by Descossy a number of reasons. It shows humble things, and yet is painted with stunning refinement. The juxtaposition is marvellous. Years earlier, Descossy had researched the methods with which the old masters painted, and it shows. His painting is effortlessly timeless, elegant, honest, and by the same token, startlingly fresh and original.

Descossy had arrived in Paris in 1921 and embarked on a brilliant artistic career.

After art school, he studied with Cormon and Pierre Laurens, who had both been major figures in the French fin de sie`cle art world.

Soon, he started exhibiting at all the Paris Salons, and got a contract with a gallerist in near the Champs Elyse´es. But the rat race, life in the capital was not for him – and so he packed his bags and moved home. Descossy was a country man, discreet, unassuming, hardworking, and not interested in glitz.

From then on, he would mainly work and exhibit in the South: in Toulouse, in Catalonia, in the artist’s colony of Collioure, where he spent time with Picasso. A retrospective exhibition of Descossy’s work was organised by the Muse´e Fabre in Montpellier in 2013.

A book about the artist (in French) can be remitted to the buyer of this painting.

An oil on canvas in perfect condition, it measures 46 x 38 cm. The overall framed size is 42 x 50 cm.

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