De Belay – Portrait of a woman

Pierre De Belay
(1890 Quimper – 1947 Ostend)

PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN

Charcoal drawing on paper
17 x 11 cm
Signed and dated lower right: Pierre de Belay, 1926

Pierre de Belay, alias Eugène Pierre Savigny de Belay, already knew at the age of 10 that he wanted to be a painter and had the talent to do so. At 13, he painted portraits of Quimper’s dignitaries. Around 1905, he travelled to Paris for the first time and stayed with the poet and painter Max Jacob, who was a friend of the family and introduced him to Picasso and Apollinaire, among others. By the age of 15, he was familiar with the avant-garde of the 20th century.
Although he befriended the artists and painted their portraits, they had surprisingly little influence on his work. De Belay’s style ranged between Impressionism and Fauvism. His model remained nature, his theme humanity. Figurative scenes from Paris and his native Brittany were his favourite subjects.
From 1919 onwards, he lived in Montmartre, enjoyed the Années folles and painted café scenes and theatre backdrops. Strolling through Paris with his sketchbook, he indulged his curiosity and passion for depicting people and became a chronicler of his time.