HENRI DREYFUS-LEMAÎTRE 1859-1946

French Postimpressionist Painter

Henri Dreyfus-Lemaître was born in Amiens, France in 1859. Painting at the time of the postimpressionist movement, he was the friend of Schuffenecker and Emile Bernard. He painted in Auvers-sur-Oise and Creuse. Member of the "Salon d'Automne", he took part in the "Salon des Indépendants".

With his painting of a view of Lagny kept in the collections of the museum Gatien-Bonnet of Lagny-sur-Marne, Dreyfus-Lemaître affirmed his membership to the neoimpressionist movement.  Close to the divisionists painters of the Group of Lagny (Léo Gausson, Cavallo-Péduzzi, Maximilien Luce and Lucien Pissarro), he made very particular use of the pointillist theory founded by Seurat and revealed an astonishing control in the juxtaposition of the complementary colors.

His fidelity to naturalist subjects (see " Le Semeur", major piece of the artist) as his arrangements betrayed his admiration for Pissarro. Dynamic and frankly posed on the canvas, his stroke took part in the vibration of his compositions. Dreyfus-Lemaître transcended the reality, which he broke up according to laws of optical painting.                                               

Incontestably, Henri Dreyfus-Lemaître’s sparkling palette classifies him among the colorists of postimpressionism.

Bibliography: 

Lydia Harambourg, " Dictionnaire des Paysagistes Français au XIXe siècle", Editions Ides et Calendes, 1985.

Photo: Le Semeur  Oil on canvas