'The Marne' by Paul Crotto, 1964, Paris, Museum of Modern Art, Salon D'Automne, Bernheim Jeune, Art Students League

Description

Signed lower right, 'Crotto' for Paul Crotto (French-American, 1922-2016); additionally signed, verso, and dated 1964.

A substantial Post-Impressionist oil showing … more Signed lower right, 'Crotto' for Paul Crotto (French-American, 1922-2016); additionally signed, verso, and dated 1964.

A substantial Post-Impressionist oil showing a view of the River Marne on a sunny day beneath clouded blue skies.

Paul Crotto first studied at the Art Students League in New York, graduating in 1949. He then traveled and studied extensively in Europe, including two years spent in Florence at the Accademia di Belle Arti. Moving to Paris in 1951, he spent two influential years at the Academy of Fernand Léger where his fellow students included Le Corbusier, Sam Francis and Nicolas de Staël. During this early Paris period, Crotto rented Georges Braque’s former atelier at the Hotel Roma (for 9 francs a day). During these leaner, early Paris years, he also worked as an art teacher at the American School. Here he taught art to, among others, the children of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. He later attended the Atelier Lacourière in Montmartre where he studied graphic arts, particularly engraving. It was here that he became friendly with Henri Matisse and Joan Miró and, as a result, was invited to exhibit with Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. As his fortunes improved, Crotto purchased the atelier directly above the Léger Academy. After he married and started a family, he extensively enlarged the atelier to include a second floor with huge studio windows, both for living and painting.

In 1961, Crotto was discovered by the French gallerist Jeanne Castel who invited the artist to exhibit alongside the major contemporary Modernists of the School of Paris From this time on, his work gained wide public and critical acceptance. He continued to exhibit with success at solo and group shows, including at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon de la Jeune Peinture and at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris as well as in Munich, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Munich. Over a long and distinguished career, Paul Crotto was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards including, in 1963, the Prix International de Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

Solo exhibitions:
Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris, 1961
Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris, 1962
Galerie Blanche, Stockholm, 1963
City of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, 1963
Galerie René Drouet, Paris, 1964
Musée d'Art International, San Francisco, 1965
Galerie Grave, Munich, 1966
Galerie Grave, Munich, 1967
Galerie René Drouet, Paris, 1968
Sindin Harris Galleries, New York, 1969
Maison Nationale des Artistes, Paris, 2016

Group Exhibitions:
Mostra di Artisti Americani, Florence, 1951;
American Painters in France, Galerie Craven, Paris, 1953;
Dix Ans de Prix de Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Paris, 1964;
Obelisk Gallery, Boston, 1964;
Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, 1965;
Sculptures des Peintres, Galerie Le Grall, Paris, 1967
Galerie am Alten Hof, Munchen, 1967;
School of Paris, Galerie Juarez, Los Angeles, 1967;
Artists of Europe and Israel, Riverdale, New York, 1968 less