Auguste-Michel COLLE (1872-1949). - Lot 356

Auguste-Michel COLLE (1872-1949). Saint Nicolas de Port and Varangéville Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. Dimensions: 92.5 x 115 cm. Painter born in Baccarat in 1872, died in Batz sur Mer in 1949. Orphaned in 1885, he apprenticed at the Baccarat crystal works as a gilder, then as an engraver of plates for chemical etching. It was during this period that he developed a taste for drawing and painting, encouraged by Charles Peccatte, a painter from Lorraine who was also a native of Baccarat. An astute art lover, Eugène Corbin, having noticed his work, introduced him to the painters Charles de Meixmoron de Dombasle, Émile Friant and Victor Prouvé (then a professor at Nancy's Ecole des Beaux-Arts). The analysis of the 1904 Salon states: "M. COLLE (born in Baccarat): Baccarat September evening We must pay attention to Mr. COLLE. His debut is of the highest quality. With a powerful softness reminiscent of certain old tapestries, he shows us Baccarat on a beautiful autumn evening. A few trees stand out, steeped in shadow. The church, the old square tower of Les Voués and the tiled roofs are illuminated by a golden, or rather orange, glow that is like a caress. In this very simple, almost naive art, there is a singular beauty. M. COLLE should not hesitate: the path he is on is the right one." In 1905, he married the sister of Victor Prouvé's wife. Under contract to Corbin until 1911, he painted nearly 500 canvases or watercolors, most of them inspired by landscapes of his native region. Later, Colle's interest in other regions led him to travel frequently, finding inspiration in Savoy, Corsica and North Africa. He met Jules Adler, Jean-Paul Laurens and Charles Cottet at the Paris Salons. At the 1905 Salon in Nancy, the magazine "Le Pays Lorrain" said: "And then there's M. COLLE, who captures the most exquisite moments of the day, the most unsettling aspects of the seasons. His Malzéville canal is a poem of gentle clarity and infinite calm; we also like his Toul Cathedral, seen under the gloomy sky of a foggy day, which is moving in its calm simplicity". For this same Salon in Nancy in 1906, let's take a look at the artist's report in the "Revue lorraine illustrée": At the 1907 Paris Salon of the "Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts", he was again noticed by "La revue lorraine illustrée", which said: "M. COLLE, who also has the great merit of looking exclusively to Lorraine for his subjects, shows us a "View of Nancy" taken in winter, from the bell tower of Saint Epvre. No one appreciates more than I the originality of Mr. COLLE's talent, which owes nothing but to the direct study of nature, and the merits of a technique that has been formed slowly, laboriously and loyally. I realize the considerable difficulty of the subject, and how sincere this study of light, seeking to pierce the fog that envelops the city, is. But the result of this highly esteemed effort is only half-satisfactory. Mr. COLLE would no doubt recognize this himself." At the 1909 Salon parisien des Artistes Français, he exhibited an oil on canvas "Au Parc Sainte Marie à Nancy - automne", in 1912 "Les châtaigniers de Jacob (Chambéry-Savoie)" in 1913 "Automne à Champigneulles, après le brouillard du matin" and in 1914 "Lever de soleil en septembre, à la Trinité-sur_Mer". At the end of the First World War, during a family holiday in Brittany, he was seduced by the light of the salt marshes and landscapes of the Guérande peninsula. This revelation transformed his palette and diversified the techniques he used: some of his canvases were pointillist, others treated with knives. Every year, he spends his summer holidays in the Croisic region. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon des Tuileries, in The Hague... all without altering the regular rhythm of his work or his attachment to his family life. At the 1929 Salon, he exhibited two oil paintings, "Vandoeuvre, soir d'octobre en Lorraine" and "Horodberg, Munster". In 1932, he presented views of Vandoeuvre and flowers taken on the spot at the Pépinière - it was said in the Pays Lorrain in 1932: "to this probing artist the Cross of the Legion of Honor has just been awarded, the just crowning of a life entirely devoted to art, painting and decorative art, for he was first a crystal decorator." As for the 1933 award, the Est Républicain daily said: "Michel Colle always enchants us with his contrasts of light and shadow. He shows us "Pointe Pescade Alger" and a marvellous view of his hometown "Baccarat"." In 1940, he settled permanently in the village of Kervalet, near Batz-sur-Mer. The difficulties of life during the