Madeleine Plantey

MADELEINE PLANTEY (Avignon, 1890 - Saint-Laurent-de-Chamousset, 1985).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
Gallery label on the back.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 35 x 27 cm; 51 x 43 cm (frame).
Madeleine Plantey was a French painter whose work is inscribed within the figurative tradition of the French art of the XX century. Her artistic production is mainly characterized by the representation of dancers, female nudes, still lifes and landscapes, genres in which she developed a pictorial sensibility marked by direct observation and a particular attention to the human figure and the effects of color and atmosphere.
His life was marked early on by difficult family circumstances. After the premature death of his father, his mother took on the responsibility of supporting the family by giving singing lessons to support her three children. This context did not prevent Plantey from developing her artistic vocation, which led her to train in Lyon under the guidance of painter Tony Tollet.
The artist established her studio in rue Laurencin, in Lyon, a space from which she developed a large part of her production. Madeleine Plantey's professional career was accompanied by a constant presence in the French exhibition circuit. In Lyon, she regularly presented her work in a gallery on rue Auguste Comte and participated annually in the city's Salon des Beaux-Arts, where she exhibited "hors concours", that is, out of competition, a condition reserved for artists already recognized in the competition. He also won several prizes at Parisian salons and was a member of the Société des artistes français, one of the most influential institutions in the French art scene of the time. In 1939, the prestigious Galerie Charpentier dedicated a solo exhibition to him, consolidating his recognition within the artistic milieu.
Plantey's work also entered important French public collections. Among the works preserved are Nu at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Femme nue se coiffant at the Musée Calvet, Maternité at the Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Étienne and Danseuses, acquired in 1952 by the Musée de Saintes. Throughout his career he received several awards reflecting the institutional appreciation of his work, including the medal of honor in 1937, the bronze medal in 1939 and the gold medal in 1955.