Michael Baxte

"Interior Scene with Figure" Expressionistic Style Oil Painting on Masonite

1969

A charming depiction of an interior scene with a woman playing the piano passionately. A cozy impressionistic scene with warmth and feeling. Whimsical details through out and beautif...

A whimsical oil painting depicting a Venetian Powder Room Scene with Figures getting ready for the masquerade. A truly intimate scene with a ornate mirror, flowers in a vase and whit...

Signed on recto and signed verso, titled, and inscribed Montmartre by the artist. This is a large colorful expressionist painting of a girl doll with long blonde or ginger redhead pigtails. It is titled Poupee 1925 and depicts an Art Deco era flapper girl in a beret. Roger Crusat (French Expressionist artist, poet and lithographer) is known for ballet troupe set design and theatre backdrop painting and architectural motifs. Roger Crusat was born in 1917 in Roussillon, Provence, France. Crusat's early works depict the colorful countryside of Provence in the South of France, As a young man Crusat performed many jobs in the troupe, designing costumes, and even dancing. But, most important, he painted the scenery for the troupe's performances. It was while working in this capacity that he learned the essentials of scenery painting that remain evident in his mature work. Crusat was a student of Andre Fons-Godail at Beaux-Arts in Perpignan when he was called to serve in World War II. After being wounded in 1940, he returned to study under Rene Jaudon at Beaux-Arts in Paris. Crusat was known by his contemporaries as "the Catalan painter of Montmartre" where he lived with his wife until his death in 1994. Cracked and peeling walls framed by rusting water pipes are a common sight in Montmartre. What others considered unnecessary, Crusat included. Water pipes were his cherished motif. Supposed by some to be a symbol of decay and monotony, Crusat's Impressionist water pipes like arteries in the body, convey life. Crusat won the prestigious Prix Populiste for his "Descente d'Eau" (Water Pipes) in 1956. Crusat's mature work retains the essentials of good scenery painting. Intricate detail will not be found, but broad, solid abstract shapes abound. His subtle colors, dense in texture, are meant to compliment his subjects, not distract from them. The critics considered him a lyric expressionist and a "painter of Man" in his portrayal of the anguish of daily life and the regrets of the past. Crusat exhibited at many of the same Salons as the post-impressionists and expressionists. Salon des Independants was co-founded by Georges Seurat. Degas had only one exhibition during his lifetime, and it was at the Galerie Durand Ruel in Paris. Gauguin had also exhibited his Tahitian paintings. Crusat's works were exhibited there in 1955. SELECT AWARDS 1954 Le Prix de la Jeune Peintre 1955 Prix des Amateurs d'Art & des Collectionneurs, Galerie Gazette des Beaux Arts, 140 rue Faubourg St. Honore, Paris Les Jardins des Abbesses purchased by the Republic of France, Prix de la Ville de Marseilles, Prix Othon Friesz 1956 Prix Populiste, Prix de Amedeo Modigliani 1957 Grand Prix International de Vichy, Prix de la Fondation Greenshields 1959 IVeme Grand Prix de Peinture du Festival de Vichy 1967 Le Prix des Amis de Brantôme, Perigord, France 1970 Prix de la Critique Academy de Vernet a Vichy,"La Nuit, Premiere Etude" Roger Crusat, Half-closed shutters , poems enriched with four original lithographs (175 numbered copies) drawn on Henri Deprest's presses on February 13, 1975 , Éditions Matignon 34, 1975. Personal exhibitions Durand-Ruel Gallery, Paris, 1955 [ 1 ] . Galerie Rivière, Paris, november 1958 [ 4 ] . Le Roux and Mathias, auctioneers in Paris, Sale of the Roger Crusat workshop , Hôtel Drouot , Paris, Thursday October 27, 1994 [ 5 ] . Jack's American Bistro, Glens Falls , September- october 2004 [ 6 ] . Collective exhibitions Galerie Roger, Lyon , October 1946 [ 7 ] . Salon des Indépendants , Paris, from 1952 [ 8 ] . Exhibition Discover , Galerie Charpentier , Paris, 1955. Populist Salon, Paris, 1956. Salon des Amis de Brantôme, 1957. Hundred painters and oil - Exhibition on the occasion of the centenary of the first oil drilling , Musée Galliera , october 1958 [ 9 ] . “An artist from Roussillon whose invoice calls for a flattering comparison with that of a Soutine or a Rebeyrolle . Indeed, following their example, he focuses on familiar scenes: Girls on the balcony or in the basket , Laundresses weighing heavily on the iron, draft horses or plucked turkeys, who stand next to a magnificent portrait of a man in a red dressing gown . Hasn't the Prix Populiste already crowned its merits? " - Jean Jacquinot SELECT EXHIBITIONS Galerie La Gentilhommiere, Paris La Salle Arago, Perpignan, Salon des Indépendants, Salon d'Automne Biennale de Menton, Menton Galerie des Jacobins, Lyon Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris Salon de la Nationale Galerie Bassano, Paris Salon Populiste Salon de Romans Galerie Motte, Geneva, Switzerland Exposition à Quiberville sur Mer - Normandie Galerie Charpentier Salon Confrontation: Bernard Buffet, Roger Crusat, Jean Jansem, Franck Innocent...

"In this oil painting, I've poured my soul into capturing the serene connection between the human spirit and nature's tranquility. The figure, immersed in water, symbolizes purity an...