André Pierre Lupiac

ANDRÉ PIERRE LUPIAC (France, 1873-1946).
"Hercules and Alceste".1923.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated on the lower right.
Measurements: 116 x 150 cm; 133 x 164 cm (frame).

Oil on canvas representing Hercules bringing Alceste back from the underworld to her husband, King Admeto. The latter, wearing a laurel wreath and a blue tunic of lapis lazuli intensity, reacts with great surprise at the return of Alceste. Lupiac's work was often inspired by classical and mythological themes, with a style that combined figurative and symbolist elements.

Stylistically, "Hercules and Alceste" is a superb example of the stylistic movement known as the "Return to Order" that dominated the European art scene in the 1920s, following the cataclysm of World War I. The style of the painting departs from the "Return to Order" that dominated the European art scene in the 1920s, following the cataclysm of World War II. The style of painting deliberately moves away from the fragmentation and abstraction of the pre-war avant-garde to embrace a classically inspired monumentality and clarity, but interpreted through an unmistakably modern lens.

André Pierre Lupiac entered the Toulouse School of Fine Arts at the age of 17, where he won the second Grand Prix in 1893 with "Télémaque gagnant de Périandre". He was a pupil of Jean Paul Laurens from 1897 and later of Benjamin Constant. He participated in the Salon des Artistes Français in 1900 and co-founded the Société des Artistes méridionaux in 1905. He decorated the hall of the Municipal Council of Toulouse. In his works he idealized ancient Greece, from which he drew countless themes.