Victor L. Charreton

CHARRETON, Victor Léon Jean Pierre
French, 19th – 20th century.
Born 2 March 1864, in Bourgoin Château; died 26 November 1936, in Clermont-Ferrand.
Painter.
School of Murols.
Charreton was a landscape artist in the Lyons tradition with a love of sensual impasto. In his works he seeks to capture fleeting, momentary effects, like those achieved by the Impressionists: effects at different times of day and in different seasons, such as dusk and snow. He spent time in Auvergne where he painted the characteristic landscapes of the region, which represent approximately two-thirds of his output. What became known as the School of Murols, named after a village in Auvergne, was principally formed around him between 1910 and 1925. Skilled in capturing minute changes in the weather, he was also adept at capturing the spirit of new places.
He was also charmed by the landscapes of the Île-de-France and Paris, Provence, Creuse and Brittany.
like Guillaumin, it is almost a precursor to Fauvism, or alternatively can be regarded as complicit with it, like the work of Maurice Marinot. His brushwork evolved in tandem with his use of colour, which became ever more vibrant; for example his fondness for purple hues and later his striking colour contrasts. His brushwork became more conspicuous and he would suppress the insignificant details in order to bring out the forms that made up the general composition. Among art historians he is not ranked alongside the innovators who succeeded the Impressionists, like Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh or Cézanne. Older than Matisse, who was himself already by far the eldest of the Fauves, Charreton stopped short of what he considered to be their excesses. He placed himself at the crossroads between two centuries: the end of the century of Impressionism and the start of the leaps made by Fauvism.

Submitted by Leighton Fine Art Ltd