The Rafael Valls Sale
The Rafael Valls Sale
OSEPH VICTOR COMMUNAL | A German searchlight behind Les Éparges battlefield
Lot Closed
April 8, 02:44 PM GMT
Estimate
800 - 1,200 GBP
Lot Details
Description
JOSEPH VICTOR COMMUNAL
Châtelard 1876 - 1962 Chambéry
A GERMAN SEARCHLIGHT BEHIND LES ÉPARGES BATTLEFIELD
signed lower right: JCommunal (JC in ligature); and signed and inscribed on the reverse: Projecteur / boche derrière / les Éparges / J. Communal
oil on panel
unframed: 26.8 x 35 cm.; 10½ x 13¾ in.
framed: 33 x 41.2 cm.; 13 x 16¼ in.
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Private collection, France.
Joseph-Victor Communal spent most of his life in Chambery, in Savoy, and was strongly tied to the community of mountain painters in that region. Largely self-taught, he won a number of artistic prizes and awards and regularly exhibited in the Paris Salon from 1910.
The present work is reminiscent of his years as a soldier during World War I. Les Éparges was an extremely long and violent battle between the French and Germans in 1914-15 to secure the little village of Les Éparges, situated in a crucial strategic position. Communal depicts it using a palette knife to create large fields of colour with a modern and captivating effect.