A very sensual female nude by Pierre Deval, a great figurative painter of the 20th century. An intimate painting with refined colors.

Oil on canvas
Signed lower left
Dimensions: 54 x 81 cm

Pierre Deval is a great figurative painter of the 20th century.
Pierre Deval, a discreet artist, spent the 20th century concentrating his life on the pleasure of painting.
He delivers us refined landscapes but also portraits of women and sensual nudes. A true hymn to life, his paintings express happiness.

Women are one of his favorite subjects, Pierre Deval celebrates women with infinite delicacy.
A naked young woman lounges on a colorfully patterned sofa. The pink of her cheeks echoes the orange-red of the sofa.
The painting is clear and bright as if a ray of sunshine had just illuminated the scene.

Biography

Born in Lyon into a family of silk workers from Lyon but living in La Valette du Var from 1925 until his death, he was considered to be from Lyon by some and Provençal by others.
Self-taught and outside the Parisian commercial circuits, the destiny of Pierre Deval, nicknamed the Master of Orvès, took shape very early.
Having come to study in Paris, he attended Fernand Cormon's studio for a month and took part in the Dada movement with, in particular, Breton, Tzara, and Aragon.
At only 24 years old, he was noticed by Léonce Bénédite at the 1921 Salon, where the State acquired his Ariane.
This success opened the doors of the Villa Abd el Tif in Algiers, where he was admitted as a boarder for two years, and where he became friends with Albert Marque. He received the Abd-el-Tif Prize in 1922 and exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1924.
Subsequently, he lived in Paris, travelled extensively with Marquet, and frequented some of the most illustrious “Fauves” and other great names of the time such as Charles Camoin, Henri Charles Manguin, and Henri Matisse.
In 1925, dazzled by the beauty of the region, he became the owner of the Orvès estate, a mansion in the XVIIIth in La Valette du Var. The place, whose park is today labeled Remarkable Garden, welcomes and inspires friends, painters, critics, art publishers and writers.
He settled permanently in the South, at the Château d'Orvès and became "a Provençal painter".
Pierre Deval met Michel Estades in 1986, who became his friend, ultimate and only merchant and expert.
Deval exhibited at the Salon d'Automne from 1920, at the Salon des Tuileries and at the Salon des Indépendants as well as at the Art Français Indépendant, at the Salon d'Automne in Lyon and at the Salon du Sud-Est (Lyon).
His painting transcends trials: the two world wars, the economic crisis of the 30s, the domination of abstract art, the risk of destruction of the Orves estate, by expressing happiness.
He was the subject of a major exhibition for his centenary, followed by two major retrospectives: one in 1998 at the Toulon Museum and the other in 1999 at the Maison Ravier in Morestel. His works are exhibited in many museums.

Bibliography

• René Édouard-Joseph, Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Artists, volume 1, AE, Art & Édition, 1930, p. 405.
• Michèle Gorrenc, Pierre Deval, the Master of Orvès, 1997, Marseille, Éditions Autres temps, 1997.
• Élisabeth Cazenave, La Villa Abd-el-Tif, half a century of artistic life in Algeria, 1907-1962, Éditions Abd-el-Tif, 1998.
• Dominique Buis, Marie-Jo Volle, Nathalie Garel, Pierre Deval: Painting in Ardèche – from prehistory to the 2022th century, Privas, Mémoire d'Ardèche et Temps Présent, 2, chap. XNUMX

Museums

In France
• Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon.
• Toulon Art Museum.

Abroad
• National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers.
• Zabana National Museum of Oran.
• Tokyo National Museum.
• British Museum in London.
 
Source
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Deval_(peintre)