Beautiful rendering of a river at dusk on an overcast day, in the style of Barbizon School painters. A handwritten notation in French on the stretcher indicates that it is the banks of the river Adour (south-western France) near Landes, November 1920.
French landscape artist, Louis-Alexandre Cabié was born November 15, 1853 in Dol-de-Bretagne (department of Ille-et-Vilaine), son of a policeman stationed in this town and a homemaker. He moved to Bordeaux around 1870, where he was a student of Leopold Thénot (decorative painter), Hyppolite Pradelles and later Henri Harpignies with whom he painted landscapes in the gorges of Allier and Aumance. Like his friend the painter Louis Auguin, he was also influenced by the works of Corot and Courbet. He opened his own studio and taught, among other Bordeaux painters, Louis Marius Gueit and François-Max Bugnicourt. He exhibited regularly in a number of salons from 1879, obtaining a number of awards at the Paris Salon in 1894, 1899, 1902, etc. He lived in Paris between 1903 and 1919, where he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1908. He frequently painted the landscapes of Dordogne, Bordeaux, Landes, Charente and Carcassonne.
His style changed little and he never became an impressionist painter. He remained immune to all the avant-garde movements and died in oblivion. On the other hand, his considerable oeuvre has been highly appreciated over the years, as evidenced by auction results to this day. It is therefore surprising that his work has yet to be the subject of more detailed academic study.
Following his Parisian period, Louis Cabié lived in Bordeaux where he died on February 26, 1939 at the age of 85. He was buried in the Chartreuse cemetery.
His work is exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and in the museums of Bordeaux, Alençon, Angers, Cognac, Libourne, Périgueux, Tolon, Saintes and Castres, as well as in many private art collections.
Sources: Archives de France; Bénézit; Jean-Roger Soubiran, Les peintres Bordelais.
Artist: Louis Cabié (1853-1939).
Signed in the lower right corner.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition. Signs of past restoration.
Dimensions: 33 x 46 cm. / 13 x 18 in.
Frame: 46 x 59 cm. / 18 x 23 ¼ in. Gilded bronze wood/stucco, very good condition.
Origin: France.