Louis Suire
French ( b.1899 - d.1987 )
Le Golfe Du Morbihan, Bretagne, 1927.
| Image size | 14.4 inches x 17.3 inches ( 36.5cm x 44cm ) |
| Frame size | 18.5 inches x 22 inches ( 47cm x 56cm ) |
£2,495.00
Available for sale from Big Sky Fine Art in the English county of Dorset, this original oil painting is by the French artist Louis Suire and is dated 1927.
The painting is presented and supplied in its original wooden frame (which is shown in these photographs) which today has modern fixings ensuring the security of the piece.
This antique painting is in very good condition, commensurate with its age. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.
The painting is signed and dated 1927 lower right.
Louis Suire was a renowned French landscape artist and illustrator. He was born on October 29th 1899 to an artistic bourgeoise family in Cognac. His family had lived in the La Rochelle region for several generations. As a child he was able to take drawing lessons from Louis Giraudeau. It is also thanks to Louis Giraudeau that in 1912 he discovered the small Island of Ré with its idyllic landscape. He fell under its spell and resolved to one day acquire a house there.
As a teenager, Louis was absorbed with poetry, art and music. He was talented in all of these, but he chose to pursue painting. Writing and music nevertheless remained important features of his life. In 1914 the First World War broke out; Louis was just 15 and began his artistic studies at the School of Decorative Arts in Limoges, where he met Charles Bicher, an important teacher who encouraged him to go to Paris. He arrived there aged 17, still too young to go to war, but old enough to enter the Academy of Painting. He lived in the then bohemian district of the 6th arrondissement, Rue Gitle-Couer, next to the building where Marquet and Matisse were installed. He joined the community of artist of Montparnasse and was soon rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest artists of the twentieth century; Marquet, Braque, Matisse, Signac, Dumoyer de Segonzac. He also knew Picasso, Modigliani, Foujita and Cocteau. These were to remain hugely influential figures in his life. At 18 he was mobilised and entered the camouflage unit of the army where he painted false poplars to shelter the gunners of the trenches and a false Paris in the plain of Roissy to deceive the German aviators. Shortly after the end of the war Louis first exhibited his paintings.
In 1920, encouraged by the painters Marquet, Signac and Dunoyer, he returned to La Rochelle to paint the sea.
There followed a settled and productive period; in 1923 Louis married the love of his life and teenage sweetheart, Hélène. A year later they had a son, Claude. Louis painted, took part in exhibitions, and took a teaching job at Fénelon High School to guarantee a regular income. At the weekends, the family would go to the island of Ré, where he was fascinated by the light.
In 1929 Louis and Hélène bought a farmhouse in the hamlet of La Rivière on the north of the island of Ré. For several years they worked on restoring this and used it as a holiday home. Their time on the island became the inspiration for much of his abundant work. The farmhouse later became the workshop of the son, Claude Suire, and his son, Oliver Suire-Verley.
The family’s main residence remained in La Rochelle, where Louis also set up his own publishing house called La Rose des Vents, which dealt mainly with the many books he illustrated with watercolours, either by hand or stencil.
During this period, Louis became an artist of national stature, known as the “painter of light”. He divided his time between painting, writing and lecturing. He published articles in various journals, specialising in regionalist writings. As a self-taught musician he also somehow found time to write piano music!
The outbreak of the Second World War Hit interrupted this period of abundant creativity and Louis ended up enduring two years of imprisonment in a German labour camp. After the end of the war, he returned to La Rochelle and continued to paint.
Although Louis Suire is particularly well known for his landscapes, but he also painted some portraits and still life works. As his reputation grew, he took many commissions from his admirers. His style was always refined, elegant and understated, capturing the scenes he loved and great sensitivity.
Louis was a member of the Academy of La Rochelle from 1925 and Vice President there from 1955-1983. He was a member of the Salon d’Automne from 1931. He was also an Honorary President of several historical societies. He regularly exhibited at the Salon des Indépendents and the National Fine Arts in Paris and various provincial galleries. In 1937 he and Oliver Flomoy decorated the Cognac stand at the Universal Exhibition.
Louis died on January 18th, 1987, the same year as his beloved wife.
An exhibition was held at Ernest Cognacq Museum within the Hotel de Clerjotte to make 120 years since his birth. This traced his journey through about forty works from the collection of the Suire family and the Museum of Fine Arts of La Rochelle. This exhibition paid tribute to the prolific artistry of Louis Suire, whose influence was felt in numerous fields. He was acknowledged as the special artist of the island of Ré, a place he had loved and painted from the 1920s to the 1980s and whose evolution he had captured so beautifully.
Today many public collections and museums in France hold examples of Louis Suire’s works, including the museums of Fontenay-le-Comte, La Rochelle and Limoges.
Both Louis’ son, Claude, and his son, Oliver, went on to become artists in their own right, the talent passing from generation to generation. Oliver made his permanent home on Ré, continuing the loves and traditions of his grandfather. He also wrote a biography of his grandfather, with whom he had enjoyed joint exhibitions.
© Big Sky Fine Art
This atmospheric coastal landscape is an original oil on panel painting by the French artis t Louis Suire (1899–1987), signed and dated 1927 in the lower right corner. The work depicts the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany, one of France’s most celebrated and picturesque maritime regions.
Painted in Suire’s early career, the composition captures a serene Breton harbour scene with several small sailing boats gently moored in calm water. Their slender masts and subtle reflections create a rhythmic foreground that draws the viewer’s eye across the luminous surface of the inlet. Beyond the boats lies a quiet tidal landscape of sandbanks and low islands, culminating in a rocky outcrop rising from the sea in the middle distance. The pale sky, softly brushed with drifting clouds, bathes the entire scene in delicate coastal light typical of the Atlantic shores of western France.
The painting beautifully demonstrates Suire’s sensitivity to light, atmosphere, and maritime life, themes that would become central to his artistic career. The restrained palette of blues, greens, and warm earth tones evokes the peaceful stillness of Brittany’s sheltered waters, while the balanced composition reflects the influence of early twentieth-century French landscape painting.
An elegant and authentic Breton marine landscape, this signed oil on panel by Louis Suire would appeal to collectors of French coastal painting, Brittany seascapes, and early 20th-century European marine art.
Le Golfe Du Morbihan, Bretagne, 1927. - Suire, Louis