'French Market Day' by Charles Orens Denizard (1945)
'French Market Day', ink and gouache on paper (1945), by Charles Orens Denizard (1879 - 1965). Throngs of basket-carrying market-goers are making their weekend morning buys. A queue of shoppers waits their turn for the cheese seller in traditional dress who weighs her sales on the balance. Behind her, the crowded street is full of men in hats and women carrying baskets full of bread, wine and produce for the day's meals. A short video clip of this work can be provided upon request.
About the Artist: Charles Orens Bonaventure Denizard was born in Pontru, in the North of France, in 1879. While still very young he began working in a print shop in Amiens, later attending a local school, and finally the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Here, he studied various artistic techniques from painting to etching. His time at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts coincided with the initial events of the Dreyfus Affair, a subject to which he later added his own visual commentary through the production of numerous postcards. Denizard was also the author of the Burin Satirique, a periodic publication of postcards with politically satirical prints which he engraved and for which he is most well known. From 1903 to 1907, his cards were published in a series of 250 each year. These cards are extremely collectible and sought after. Depending on the medium, Denizard used a variety of signatures such as 'Orens', 'D'Nizard' and on this work, 'O. Denizard 45', in the lower right hand corner. Denizard was buried in Père Lachaise cemetary in Paris in 1965.
Dimensions with frame:
H 25.5 cm
W 31.5 cm
Dimensions without frame:
H 11.5 cm
W 14.5 cm