An artist on stage captured in the moment by the very talented Jean Béraud. A light and spirited painting of great chromatic sobriety.

 Oil on panel
Signed lower left
Dimensions: 23,5 14 cm x
Dimensions with frame: 36 x 27 cm

 Jean Béraud, the painter of Parisian life during the Belle Epoque

 Jean Béraud quickly became the painter of scenes of Parisian life. He mainly depicted the activities of the wealthy bourgeoisie, the main clientele of the artists of the time: walks on the boulevards, shows, cafés and restaurants.
Introduced into the upper middle class, Jean Béraud frequented fashionable salons and shows and represented them with a certain irony.

 An impressionist technique; his creations, at the turn of the century, give a greater part to movement captured on the spot.

 Béraud's style is not strictly academic. He can draw inspiration from the touch of the Impressionists, as in our painting.
An unconventional method for the artist known for his academicism, but it is precisely with these works that Béraud achieved his greatest fame.
The character of her painting, an artist, singer, opera singer or actress, in a long and vaporous pink dress, is captured in all her immediacy. The clear silhouette of the woman stands out against a dark background in a chromatic sobriety. The subtle lighting, coming from the stage, illuminates her subject making her seem evanescent. Like an unreal apparition, a dream.

 Bibliography

 Jean Béraud was born in Saint Petersburg when his father, a sculptor, was probably working on the construction site of Saint Isaac's Cathedral. After his father's death in 1853, his mother returned to Paris with her four children.

Jean Béraud studied at the Lycée Bonaparte, then became a student of Léon Bonnat at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He made his debut at the Salon of 1872. In 1876, he achieved success with his painting The Return from the Burial. In 1883, he made a drawing, entitled Le Viveur, to illustrate the play, Le Rêve.

 He became one of the leading painters of Parisian life during the Belle Époque. Through a multitude of genre scenes, he painted with acuity, and sometimes with irony, the hushed milieu of the bourgeoisie, small trades, the atmosphere of cafés, public meetings, scenes of daily life on the streets of Paris. He is also the author of around 200 portraits. 

 In a very different register, he composed some paintings with religious themes depicting Christ in spectacular contemporary settings (La Madeleine chez le Pharisien, 1891, Paris, Musée d'Orsay), or paintings with social themes of a more serious tone (Les Fous, Salon of 1885, location unknown).

 In 1890, he was one of the co-founders of the Société nationale des beaux-arts with, among others, Auguste Rodin, Ernest Meissonier and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. He became its vice-president.

He provided illustrations for the covers of Le Figaro illustré between 1890 and 1896.

In 1887, he was named a knight of the Legion of Honor, then promoted to officer of the same order in 1894.

He died on October 4, 1935 in Paris and was buried in the Montmartre cemetery.

Exhibitions

• Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889.

• Paris, Carnavalet Museum, 1936.

• Tribute to the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts, Paris,

• Vitré Castle Museum, “Parisian Life around 1900”, April 1978.

• Galerie Jean-François Heim, Paris, May-June 1978.

• “Jean Béraud and the Paris of the Belle Époque”, September 29, 1999 

   as of January 2, 2000, Paris, Carnavalet Museum.

 Bibliography

• Bénézit Dictionary.

• Édouard-Joseph, Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Artists, volume 1, AE, Art et Édition, 1930, p. 112.

• Patrick Offenstadt, Jean Béraud. The Belle Époque, a dream era. Catalogue raisonné, Paris, Taschen, Wildenstein Institute, 1999.

• Gustave Schlumberger, My Memories, memoirs edited by Adrien Blanchet, Paris, Éditions Plon, 1934.

• Gérald Schurr, The Little Masters of Painting, Les éditions de l'Amateur,

• Jean Béraud: 1849-1935, collections of the Carnavalet Museum, Paris, Carnavalet Museum, 1978,

Museums

 In Paris

• Museum of Modern Art of Paris 
• Orsay Museum
• Carnavalet Museum 

• Department of Graphic Arts of the Louvre Museum 

• Museum of Decorative Arts: Descent from the Cross, 1892, oil on canvas 

• Louvre Museum, Department of Graphic Arts

In France

 • Rouen, Museum of Fine Arts:

• Bordeaux, Museum of Fine Arts 

 • Bourges, Berry museum: Portrait of Jean Baffier, drawing.

 • Gray, Baron-Martin museum:

• Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts: Meditation, 1894, oil on canvas.

• Marseille, Museum of Fine Arts: At the Café, oil on canvas.

• Toulouse Bemberg Foundation 

 • Tours, Museum of Fine Arts:

 • Troyes, Saint-Loup museum 

 United States

 • New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 

 United Kingdom

• London, National Gallery 

Source

 • https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Béraud#Bibliography

• https://ap.chroniques.it/jean-beraud/

• https://www.rivagedeboheme.fr/pages/arts/peinture-19e-siecle/jean-beraud-1849-1935.html

• https://www.pariszigzag.fr/insolite/histoire-insolite-paris/jean-beraud-  the-painter-of-parisian-life-in-the-belle-epoque