Description

Phillimore & Co. 1st 2006

4to, maroon boards with gold titling to spine. Very, very minor wear to parts of d/w edges o/w F++/F+. Inscribed by author to title page. 1020 gms

(Order reference 16464)

Adolphe Valette was an exceptionally multi-talented artist. Born in France in 1876, he ignored the boundaries of national frontiers and arrived in Manchester in 1905. He introduced impressionism to the city and from 1908 to 1913 produced his famous ‘Manchester-scapes’. These captured, in the subtle hues of Valette’s impressionist palette, the atmospheric mood of streets, squares, waterways and industrial buildings shrouded in fog and pollution. As teacher at the Manchester School of Art, Valette tutored L.S. Lowry, who acknowledges a debt of gratitude to the artist for more than a decade’s instruction. The geographical vagaries of Valette’s life brought him back to his native France in 1928 where he continued to paint until his death in 1942. This fascinating and long awaited book contains over 125 beautifully produced illustrations that make Valette’s finest work available to all and display his unique talents to splendid effect. Cecilia Lyon at last gives this acclaimed painter the recognition he deserves as an important player in the extensive panorama of early 20th-century British and French painting. Through four years’ extensive research, in which the author followed Valette’s trail both in the UK and France, exploring everywhere he lived, studied or worked, the author has amassed a wealth of new information. She has uncovered important documents and even rediscovered, in private collections, paintings that had long been forgotten. The only complete work of reference on the life and work of Adolphe Valette, this charming book is a feast for the eyes and full of hitherto unknown facts about this remarkable man.