Édouard Cortès

Infobox Artist
name = Édouard Cortès


imagesize =
caption = Édouard Cortès as a young man
birthname =
birthdate = 26 April 1882
location = flagicon|France Lagny/Marne, France
deathdate = November 26 1969
deathplace = flagicon|France Lagny/Marne, France
nationality = flagicon|France French
field = Cityscapes, Paris
training = His father Antonio Cortès, École des Beaux-Arts in Paris
movement = Post-Impressionism
works =
patrons =
awards =

Édouard Leon Cortès (1882–1969) was a French impressionist artist of French and Spanish ancestry. He is known as "Le Poete Parisien de la Peinture" or "the Parisian Poet of Painting" because of his beautiful and diverse Paris cityscapes in a variety of weather and night settings.

Personal life

He was born on August 8, 1882 in Lagny-sur-Marne, about twenty miles east of Paris. His father, Antonio Cortès, had been a painter for the Spanish Royal Court. In 1914 Cortès married Fernande Joyeuse, with whom he had a daughter in 1916. Although Cortès was a pacifist when war came close to his native village he was compelled to enlist in a French Infantry Regiment at the age of 32. As a contact agent Cortes was wounded by a bayonet, evacuated to a military hospital, and awarded the Croix de Guerre. After recovery he was the reassigned to utilize his artistic talent to sketch enemy positions. Later in life his convictions led him to refuse the Légion d'Honneur from the French Government. In 1919 he was demobilized. His wife had died in 1918 and he soon married his sister-in-law Lucienne Joyeuse. Cortes was very humble and lived a simple life amid a close circle of friends. Édouard Cortès died on November 28th, 1969 in Lagny and has a street named in his honor.fr icon cite book | last = Klein | first = David | title = Edouard Cortès, Le Poète Parisien de la Peinture | publisher = Klein Art Gallery | date = 1999 | location = Hong Kong | id = ISBN 0-967-23430-1 ]

Painting History

At the age of 17, Edouard began his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His first exhibition in 1901 brought him immediate recognition. Cortès stressed his independence. Once in responding to a journalist whom asked if he was a student of Luigi Loir; he replied in pun, "Non, elève de lui tout seul." ("No, a student of myself only.") His works were first exhibited in North America in 1945 and he subsequently achieved even greater success. In his last year of life he was awarded the prestigious Prix Antoine-Quinson from the Salon de Vincennes. fr icon cite book | last = Klein | first = David | title = Edouard Cortès, Le Poète Parisien de la Peinture | publisher = Klein Art Gallery | date = 1999 | location = Hong Kong | id = ISBN 0-967-23430-1 ]

Lost and stolen paintings

On November 30, 2000, four paintings by Cortès were recovered in Kalispell, Montana, following an eight-month investigation conducted by the FBI's San Francisco Division. The recovered paintings were stolen in 1988 during a burglary at the Simic Gallery in Carmel, California. cite web | last = FBI Theft Notices & Recoveries | title = FBI — Art Theft Program | url = http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/arttheft/northamerica/us/cortes/cortes.htm | accessdate = 2007-05-20 ]

In 2008, a lost Cortes painting of a Paris street scene was discovered amongst donated items at a Goodwill Industries thrift store in Easton, Maryland. After an alert store manager noticed that it was a signed original, the painting was subsequently auctioned for $40,600 (US) at Sotheby's. [cite journal|title=Easton Team Scores Big!|year=2008|publisher="Goodwill Connection"|issue=II|pages=p. 8]

References

External links

* [http://www.edouardcortes.org Official website]
*
* [http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/gallery/retro/cortes.htm Edouard Cortès (1882–1969): Paris and the French Countryside Revealed] , biography and article from the Royal Alberta Museum
* [http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=190 A useful illustrated essay on Cortès]
* [http://www.rehsgalleries.com/edouard_leon_cortes_virtex.htm A useful & well illustrated essay mostly concerning his artwork produced in the countryside outside Paris]
* [http://www.rehsgalleries.com/cortes_virtex.htm A lavishly-illustrated site mostly devoted to his numerous Winter Paris street scenes]