Georges BILLAUDOT (Paris, 1868-1951) - Lot 69

Georges BILLAUDOT (Paris, 1868-1951) Composition with pomegranates Gouache on paper, signed lower right Height : 40 cm ; Width : 32 cm Provenance: Artist's family. A training officer at the École spéciale de Saint-Cyr, he abandoned his military career after his marriage in 1902 to devote himself fully to his art. His colorful palette and vibrant brushwork bear witness to the influence of Seurat's Post-Impressionism and Pointillism. A self-taught artist, he painted exclusively "sur le motif". In Paris, his favorite subjects were the Tuileries Gardens and the banks of the Seine. He acquired the Château de Chailloué in the Orne region, which he depicted extensively. A plein-air painter, he set up his easel wherever he went on vacation, as in the South of France. In 1910 and 1911, he and his wife embarked on a several-month tour of the Orient and Asia, which took them as far as Japan, via India, Indochina and China. Japanese prints and screens made a deep impression on him. Between the wars, he built a private mansion in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The interior design was entrusted to the painter-decorator Adrien KARBOWSKY (1855-1945), with whom he became friends and whose works he collected. At the same time, KARBOWSKY introduced him to the technique of decorative painting. Georges Billaudot produced a series of large decorative canvases for the dining room. A deliberately discreet personality, Georges Billaudot never sought to exhibit or promote his work. To this day, his confidential work remains within the circle of his descendants.