Contact gallery for price		Léon-Augustin Lhermitte (French, 1844-1925) Laveuses Bords de la Loire, 1919 Pastel on paper 19 1/2 x 25 inches Signed lower left Provenance:            Watson Gallery, Montreal Private collection, Winnipeg Literature: Monique le Pelley Fonteny , Leon Agustin L’hermitte, catalogue raisonne #67 (illustrated) page 277. Editions, Cercle d’Art, Paris, 1991. Washing Day on the Loire was a favorite motif of the artist in his mature years and theme, which he treated in both oil and pastel several times. While the labor was hard, Lhermitte arranges the figures in a graceful, poetic frieze, which is almost dance like in its rhythm and timeless beauty. A master in the medium of pastel, the diffused afternoon light  achieved by the layering of the chalk unifies the figures, water and landscape into a harmonic whole.  The Marne was a river that Lhermitte sketched on several occasions.  He was apparently drawn to its gentle waters, the local people who relied on its bounty, and the beautiful surrounding countryside.  This particular work illustrates the light and warmth of this region exquisitely, easily demonstrating why Lhermitte found inspiration through this river.   Leon Lhermitte was born in 1844 and was still executing works in the French rural tradition at his death in 1925, making him the last in an illustrious group of artists dedicated to this genre.  He showed artistic talent at a young age, and in 1863 left his home at Mont-Saint-Pere, Aisne for Petite Ecole, where he studied with Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, in Paris.  Lecoq was known for his program of training the visual memory of his students, and his theories had a profound effect on Lhermitte.  It was in his studio that Lhermitte formed a life-long friendship with Cazin and also became acquainted with Legros, Fantin-Latour and Rodin.  Lhermitte sent his initial entry to the Salon in 1864 at the age of 19; he continued to exhibit charcoal drawings and paintings regularly and pastels after 1885, winning his first medal in 1874 with La Moisson Other prizes and honors came to Lhermitte throughout his long career, including the Grand Prix at the Exhibition Universelle in1889, the Diplome d’honneur at Dresden in 1890, and the Legion d’honneur.  He was a founding member of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. (Musee de Carcassonne).