Georges, Jules, Victor Clairin (1843-1919)

Georges, Jules, Victor Clairin (1843-1919)
Sarah Bernardt
Oil on canvas signed and dedicated to victorien verdou lower
right
22.44 x 14.96 inch
A student of Pils and Picot at the Fine-Arts Academy in Paris, Georges Clairin worked mainly with his close
friend, the artist Henri Regnault. They travelled together to Brittany, then to Spain and Morocco where they
remained during the years 1869/1870.?They both had to come back to France to fight the 1870 Franco-Prussian
war where Regnault lost his life.
After the war, Georges Clairin headed back to Morocco where he stayed for 18 months, finding his inspiration
among the cityscapes of Tangiers, Fez and Tetuan. But he felt especially fascinated by the thrilling events which are
the equestrian 'fantasias'.
These staged battles involved hundreds of Arab horsemen galloping and brandishing their weapons. Memories of
these exciting shows are depicted in Clairin' s vigorous painting where the action seems to spill out of the canvas.
If in Morocco Georges Clairin painted fantasias and typical scenes, in Algeria he painted colourful and glamorous
portraits of oriental women and belly dancers.
Georges Clairin exhibited his Orientalist paintings regularly at the French Orientalist artists Salon, (1909), the
Salon des Artistes Algériens et Orientalistes d'Alger, the Société Coloniale des Artistes Français, (1910), and the
French Artists Salon, (1914).
Georges Clairin was awarded several times, and received a Silver medal at the1889 Universal Exhibition in Paris.
A great admirer and close friend to the actress Sarah Bernhardt, (he used to have his own studio in her beautiful
house in Belle-Île), Georges Clairin painted several delicate and fine portraits of her. A very famous one was
exhibited in 1876 in the Petit-Palais in Paris.
He was commissioned for murals for the theatres of Cherbourg and Tours, and the ceiling and the stairs of the
Galerie Ary Jan
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Opera Garnier in Paris.
He also painted murals in la Sorbonne, the Stock Exchange and the Paris City-hall.
Georges Clairin treated all different subjects: masked Venetians balls, dancers, genre scenes and Orientalist
subjects with theatrical flourish.
But his long-lasting reputation remains one of a highly regarded and very skilled Orientalist .
Georges Clairin was knighted in 1897, and in 1901 a very important exhibition presented his works at the Galerie
Georges Petit.
Museums
Paris, Musée d'Orsay.
Fine Arts Museums : Agen, Dieppe, Louviers, Mulhouse, Nevers, Quimper, Rouen,
St Brieuc.
New York, The Dahesh Museum of Art.
Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery.
Bibliography
Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, Gründ 1999.
Bué-Vidal M., " Alger et ses peintres 1830 1960 ", EDIF 2000
Cazenave É., " Les artistes de l'Algérie, Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, 1830-1962 ". Bernard
Giovanangeli Editeur, 2001.
Schurr & Cabanne, Les Petits Maîtres de la peinture, 1820-1920, Editions de l'Amateur, 1996.
Thornton Lynne, " Les Orientalistes, Peintres Voyageurs ", ACR Edition; Paris 2001.
Thornton Lynne, " La Femme dans la Peinture Orientaliste ", ACR Edition, Paris,1993.
Galerie Ary Jan
38 rue de Penthièvre | 75008 Paris
Tel : +33 (0)1 42 61 42 10 | Mobile : +33 (0)6 07 88 75 84
[email protected] | www.galeriearyjan.com