Antonio de La Gandara, gentilhomme-peintre de la Belle Époque 1861-1917

Abstract

By dedicating to the painter Antonio de La Gandara his first retrospective since his disappearance in 1917, the Lambinet Museum pays homage to a talented artist, unjustly abandoned, whose notoriety resurfaced with the return to grace of the Belle Epoque on the artistic level. A great friend of Versailles, he made his first visit at the invitation of Robert de Montesquiou, who was then living at 53 avenue de Paris (nowadays 93). The painter never stopped coming back, especially to paint the gardens of the castle park, even going as far as renting a summer residence in Versailles, from 1911. A man of his time, Gandara frequented worldly salons, the Opera and the theater world to find his inspiration and his models. He was then familiar with the Countess of Noailles, Anatole France, Henri de Regnier, Gabriele d'Annunzio, Maurice Barres, but also Debussy, Saint-Saens and Satie. The exhibition Antonio de La Gandara, gentleman-painter of the Belle Epoque, with 120 works and a hundred objects and documents, presents all the richness of the course and the different facets of the talent of La Gandara. It has been made possible thanks to the numerous works kept by the painter's descendants, the loans of private collectors, as well as those of several museums and institutions, in particular the departmental museum of the Oise, in Beauvais. The exhibition also dialogues with the collection of Belle Époque portraits preserved at the Lambinet museum, highlighted for the occasion.

Contents

Antonio de La Gandara, l'ami de Versailles -- Antonio de La Gandara, la ville de Versailles et les collections du Musée Lambinet -- La Gandara, Montesquiou et Nolhac : les artistes, le musée et les jardins de Versailles -- Il aima son art par dessus tout -- Les oeuvres des débuts, la période montmartroise -- Un pastelliste méconnu -- Les portraits masculins -- Les portraits féminins -- Les jardins et sites parisiens -- Les chemins de traverse, entre symbolisme et mysticisme -- Les dessins, estampes et lithographies -- Chronologie -- Sources et bibliographie sélectives -- Liste des oeuvres exposées.