Mayfair Art Weekend

For the 2018 Mayfair Art weekend, Stoppenbach & Delestre is pleased to present the exhibition, "Paris, Pre-Impressionism & Belle Epoque", featuring works by thirteen French artists. The exhibition celebrates the arrival of the 20th Century and will through the eyes of different artists, highlight the significant changes in the French Capital happening as the industrial revolution unfolds.

"Paris from Pre-Impressionism & Belle Epoque" exhibition includes paintings and drawings that proffers the change in the society, the emergence of new modes of transportations, and the evolution of Paris cityscape, and lifestyles.

At the time Paris was undergoing the beginning of its embellishment under Baron Haussmann, J.B Jongkind, a forerunner of Impressionist movement and modern landscape paintings, attracted by the city's transformation and everyday life, meticulously depicted the actors of the developing town, such as fishermen, workers, washer woman, or wandering crowds. In his work,"Le Quai des Célestins", the artist renders his impression of the riverside's burgeoning's life using a sensitive and subjective language, characterised by precise and short brushstrokes and a unique use of light.

In his work, Luigi Loir depicts the city's transformation through its new architectural projects, such as "The Boulevard Berthier" where the artist paints the new Parisian boulevard and the bustling crowd.

Abel Truchet also spends time exploring daily scenes, such as "Au café" and the "Place de la Concorde", where the artist depicts individuals sitting at a table, giving a hint at the Paris entertainment's life on offer at that time, further highlighting the carefree and festive character of this period. As a spectator of daily-life in Paris, the artist investigates the relation between the changing cityscape and people's lifestyle.

Other artists such as Helleu or Forain, will spend time representing the new life standards by depicting fashionable women set in the context of the "Belle Epoque".

Helleu, an acute observer of Paris modern life, will notably embrace this energy embedded in this new era by depicting joyful and elegant women in different situations.

A moment of prosperity, abundant artistic creation and social and technological progress, this period will always remain associated with optimism and a particular enjoyment of life which will stop with World War One. The art of this era will thus serve as a legacy of this period that conjugated new social norms and transformation, and which also carved out a path for further modern reflections.