This gorgeous painting dates from the 1930s. It is a cheerful and vibrant scene of streetlife in Montmartre, Paris. Signed R. Dulieu (René Dulieu, 1903-1992).
Translated biography from Wikipedia -
Self-taught painter of figurative painting. At eleven years old, it was the Great War and his Certificate of Studies in his pocket, he first worked in the fields of the village farms, then until he was 17, he was employed at the Coeuvres distillery where he is responsible for the proper functioning of the machines.
In 1925 he did his military service at the barracks of St Vincent de Laon (Aisne) in the 101st heavy artillery regiment as a pointer brigadier, and he was already drawing on notebooks. At the end of his service, having chosen to go to Paris to take drawing and painting lessons, he became a cashier at the Grand Magasins du Louvre. He begins to discover Paris, its districts, its buildings, shops, churches. During the week he sets up his easel on the sidewalks of Montmartre, Notre Dame, where the Latin Quarter and on Sundays, he sells these paintings on Boulevard Raspail. He took part in the Battle of France in September 1939at june 1940.
He testifies in a notebook of the events and emotions he has gone through. After the Second World War, he set up his home and studio in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, but he remained very attached to his native village where he went very regularly. Married, he takes his family almost every summer to the Côte d'Azur where he paints with great pleasure the warm colors and the intense light of the Esterel or the Var coast. He participates in many Parisian salons and exhibitions in Paris and province. Awarded at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants in 1961, as well as at the Salon Violet in Paris.
From 1967, Mrs. Rosenthal of the Galerie Haussmann (Paris), regularly exhibited her works on "Old Paris" which particularly appealed to British and American tourists. He participated with the painters René Demeurisse, Louis Girard, Paul René Poulain, Pierre Oualle, Jean Morand and Paul Vilain (Syriac Vila) in the "School of Works" movement.
These artists regularly paint the villages, monuments or forest landscapes of the Ru de Retz valley. In Paris, he then painted more particularly the Marais district and its old mansions, as well as buildings before their demolition, thus fixing the image of this Paris that has now disappeared. His paintings represent almost faithfully the details of a little austere architecture and he embellishes them with the bright colors of the advertising posters that were still found on the walls of Paris at that time. After the death of his wife in 1990, he fell ill and died in 1992.
He rests in his native village, in the cemetery near the church of Coeuvres-et-Valsery.
Condition and wear consistent with age and use.
Approx. overall (for 1 plate) 21¼" high x 24¾" wide x 2"
Approx. overall (for 1 plate) 54cm high x 63cm wide x 5cm
