Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture

Achille Laugé french , 1861 – 1944

Almond Trees in Spring ( Amandiers au printemps )

Oil on canvas 21 1 ⁄ 8 x 28 3 ⁄

8 inches ( 53 . 7 x 72 . 1 cm)

Signed lower right

provenance Private collection, Texas

Achille Laugé was the son of well-to-do farmers in the town of Cailhau near Carcassonne, where he spent most of his life. Laugé began studies in Toulouse in 1878 and continued in Paris in 1881 . At the École des Beaux-Arts he studied with Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Paul Laurens. While at the École, Antoine Bourdelle, whom Laugé had known in Toulouse, introduced him to Aristide Maillol and the three maintained a long and fruitful friendship. In 1888 , after seven years in Paris (including a term of military service), Laugé returned to the south and established himself again at Carcassonne, returning to Cailhau where he spent the rest of his life, recording the familiar and beautiful colors of southern France. Laugé’s time in Paris spanned the critical years from 1886 to 1888 (Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte” was first exhibited amidst much controversy in 1886 ) and his contact with Neo-Impressionism should not be underestimated. In 1894 he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, which included works by Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Sérusier, Roussel, Toulouse-Lautrec and Vuillard. Even after he moved back to Carcassonne, he continued to hold several one-man shows in Paris from 1907 – 1930 .