Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (30 September 1865 – 24 September 1953) was a French artist and a leading exponent of fin-de-siècle Symbolism and Art Nouveau. His works include paintings, drawings, ceramics, furniture and interior design.

Early life La Femme à la Médaille ou Mystère (1896). Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Born Lucien Lévy to a Jewish family in Algiers, French Algeria in 1865, he began studying drawing and sculpture in Paris at the Ecole Supérieure de Dessin et de Sculpture in 1879. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 where he showed a small ceramic plaque. In 1887 Lévy began making his living near Cannes in southern France, overseeing the decoration of ceramics. From 1886 to 1895 he worked as a ceramic decorator and then as artistic director of the studio of Clément Massier. Around 1892 he signed his first pieces of ceramics, which were influenced by Islamic Art. By this time he was working primarily on landscapes, both oil and pastel, in a style similar to Whistler and Monet.

Death Lévy-Dhurmer died in Le Vésinet in 1953.

Works

La Sorcière, 1897, pastel on paper, 61 x 46 cm, Paris : Musée d’Orsay. Le Silence, 1895, pastel, 54 x 29 cm, Paris : Musée d'Orsay. Les aveugles à Tanger, 1901, pastel on paper, 50 x 70 cm, Paris : Musée d’Orsay. L’explorateur perdu, 1896, pastel on paper, 59 x 38 cm, Paris : Musée d’Orsay. Méduse, 1897, Pastel and charcoal on paper, 59 x 40 cm, Paris : Musée d’Orsay. Portrait de Georges Rodenbach, ca. 1895, pastel on paper, 36 x 55 cm, signed : "L. Lévy-Dhurmer", Paris : Musée d'Orsay. Portrait de Pierre Loti or Fantôme d'Orient, 1896, pastel, 42,5 x 56,5 cm, Bayonne : Musée basque. Feux d'artifice à Venise, s.d., pastel, 87,5 x 53,8 cm, Paris : Musée du Petit Palais Torse de femme vue de face, s.d., pastel, 80 x 55 cm, Paris : Musée du Petit Palais. Torse de femme vue de dos, s.d., pastel, 80 x 43,5 cm, Paris : Musée du Petit Palais. Le Marocain ou Le Fanatique, ca. 1900, oil on canvas, 64,5 x 50 cm, Paris : musée du Quai Branly, Notre Dame de Penmarc'h, 1896, oil on canvas, 41 x 33 cm, signed and dated : "L. Lévy-Dhurmer / 1896", Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper. Eve, 1896, pastel and gouache, 49 x 46 cm, private collection. Bourrasque, ca. 1896, pastel on paper, 40 x 48 cm, Paris : private collection. La mort d'Atala, 1801, porcelain painting, 41 x 60 cm, Maison de Chateaubriand Alfred-Philippe Roll (1847-1919), 1913, pastel on paper, 153,4 x 95 cm (1913), Musée de l’Histoire de France (Versailles) Les Mères pendant la guerre : douze compositions inédites, Paris : Devambez, 1917, Paris : Musée d’histoire contemporaine.

Music : Les roses d'Ispahan, from a melody of Fauré, pastel, private collection. L'après-midi d'un faune, pastel, Paris, private collection. Triptych, ca. 1906, pastel and pencil, Paris : Musée du Petit Palais : Hymne à la joie, 48 x 63 cm, Beethoven, 63 x 48 cm, L'Appassionata 48 x 63 cm.

French Art Nouveau interior :

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer realised the architectural setting of the house of Auguste Rateau (1863–1930) between 1910 and 1914. The entire room Wisteria Dining room is now conserved at the Metropolitan Museum.