Henri Paul Royer

HENRI PAUL ROYER (Nancy, France, 1869 - Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 1938).
"The Sphinx," ca. 1930.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
With old exhibition label dated 1935 on the reverse. Exhibited at the Paris Salon with the title: "The Sphinx".
The famous photographer Albert Harlingue (1879-1964) photographed Henri Royer in his studio while painting this picture with his model.
Measurements: 97 x 130 cm; 118 x 152 cm (frame).

The woman is a recurring motif in the work of Henri Paul Royer. In this piece he reveals a female figure elegantly reclining on a divan, wrapped in sumptuous cushions and luminous fabrics. The young woman looks at the viewer with a proud and defiant gaze, but nevertheless showing the same delicate and seductive beauty typical of Royer's feminine types. This is also reflected, in a subtle way, through purely plastic elements such as the contrast between the almost metallic coldness of the model's elegant dress and the warmth, softness and smoothness of the flesh tones, pink on the face and slightly more pearly on the chest and arms. Her expansive, ethereal evening gown, in a vibrant turquoise blue taffeta and tulle, covers the sofa, filling the scene with light. The precision of her drawing and the harmony of her colors are remarkable and balanced.

A genre painter, portraitist and landscape painter, Henri Paul Royer entered the School of Fine Arts in Nancy, where he met Émile Friant. There he followed the classes of Antoine Vierling and Louis-Théodore Devilly and exhibited his first works at the Salon de Nancy. In 1888 he enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he was a student of Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger. In 1890, he made his debut at the Salon with the canvas entitled "Le Vagabond", for which he received an honorable mention. He received several prizes, including a gold medal at the exhibition of fine arts on the occasion of the jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna and the silver medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. He traveled in South and North America, where he stayed for a long time, and toured Europe. His trip to Brittany in 1896 marked him deeply and, until the end of his life, Royer devoted himself to painting Breton subjects. In 1900 he was made a knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1901 he was asked to direct the women's workshop of the Académie Julian, a position he accepted. A teacher at the Académie Julian in Paris and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Henri Royer had numerous pupils in his studio. In 1906, he participated in the decoration of the Majorelle villa in Nancy. In 2008, an exhibition was organized in Audierne to pay tribute to the painter. His works are or have been part of collections such as the Louvre Museum, the MET in New York, the Musée d'Orsray, the Petit Palais in Paris, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Brest and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper, among other important institutions.