Alfred Courmes

ALFRED COURMES (Paris, 1898-1933).
"Man with a hat", 1947.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements. 54 x 73 cm; 77 x 98 cm (frame).
This work represents an everyday scene full of theatricality, framed by a pointillist background that provides chromatic vibration and atmospheric depth. In the foreground of the composition, a man of elegant bearing raises his hat in a gesture of greeting, with a broad smile and an exaggerated, almost scenic gesture. To his right, a woman reacts with a marked expression of surprise, her eyes and mouth open, as if the encounter were unexpected or disconcerting. Both faces, treated with great monumentality and expressive detail, dominate the scene and convey an emotional intensity that contrasts with the fragmentary technique of the background. The combination of pointillist style and expressive figures gives the work a balance between visual lyricism and narrative force.
Louis Alfred Courmes was a French painter, whose artistic career is characterized by an original fusion of classicism, modern irony and both religious and mythological references, reinterpreted with a bold and often irreverent plastic language.
After completing his secondary studies in Monaco, he was encouraged by his father, a naval officer, to follow his artistic vocation. He trained as a disciple of Roger de La Fresnaye, being recognized as his only pupil, which profoundly marked his aesthetic development. In 1925 he settled in Paris, where he participated in the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne. During this early stage he cultivated a painting with cubist roots, as evidenced by his work Nature morte cubiste au pinceau of 1921, and also portrayed relevant figures of his time, such as Peggy Guggenheim.
The following year he moved to Ostend, where he made contact with artists such as James Ensor, Constant Permeke and Felix Labisse. This environment, together with his visits to the museums of Bruges and Ghent, deepened his interest in the Flemish and German tradition, particularly the work of Jan van Eyck, Hans Holbein, Albrecht Dürer and Pieter Brueghel, whose influences would be felt in his pictorial style. The settings of his works are often set in urban environments in Paris, such as the Canal Saint-Martin, the Place du Colonel-Fabien or the Avenue Secrétan.
In 1930, while residing near the Gare de l'Est, he managed a popular cinema, the Verdun-Palace. In 1936 he won the prestigious Prix Paul Guillaume (shared with Tal Coat) for his version of Saint Sébastien. This success earned him, in 1937, an important commission for the pavilion of the Manufacture de Sèvres at the International Exhibition in Paris. The following year, the then Minister of National Education, Albert Sarraut, commissioned him to decorate the mural in the dining room of the French Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. In the post-war period, Courmes maintained an active presence in the artistic milieu. In 1946 he participated in the Surrealist Exhibition in Lille. From 1957 he exhibited regularly at the Salon de Mai, and in 1971 he was part of the exhibition Les Autres, organized by Yves Hamon in Bordeaux. He was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1991.