Abel Gay (1877-1961)

The Roche Mill in Morestel – Circa 1930

Twilight landscape representing a view of the Roche Pond, located at the exit of the village of Morestel (Isère) with its old mill. Oil on cardboard, signed in the lower right corner.

Abel Honoré Célestin Gay, French painter belonging to the Lyon School of Landscape, was born February 9, 1877 in Pollieu (Ain). Pupil of the master landscape painter Louis Jourdan, who transmitted to him the essence of the great Lyon tradition of landscape painting. He began to exhibit at the Lyon Society of Fine Arts in 1903 (of which he was vice-president from 1937 to 1939). He was above all an industrialist and devoted himself to painting in his spare time. An admirer of the painter François-Auguste Ravier, he settled in Monestel and became passionate about the passage of the seasons. His subjects were chosen in the surroundings of this village, but also that of Ain and the Lyon countryside. His works are distinguished by a gentle and refined mastery of light. His palette, which includes muted blues and a range of reds full of virtuosity, is particularly well suited to the transitional seasons, to autumnal light and the arrival of spring.

Abel Gay died in Lyon on December 19, 1961.

Sources: Benezit, Dictionary of Artists; Bernard Gouttenoire, Dictionnaire de Peintres & Sculpteurs à Lyon aux XIXe & XXe siècles; Les Atamanes Gallery; Archives de France.
 
Artist: Abel Gay (1877-1961). 
Signed and dated in lower right corner.
Medium: Oil on cardboard.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 37.5 x 54.5 cm. / 14 ¾ x 21 ½ in.
Frame: 45 x 61 cm / 17 ¾ x 24 in. Wood, very good condition.
Origin: France.