André Jallot (1884-1936), View of a village on the banks of a river

André Jallot (1884-1936) View of a village on the banks of a river Oil on canvas, 90 x 117 cm Signed in the lower right corner. Pierre Jean Baptiste Louis Dumont was an important art critic as well as a painter, born and died in Paris but closely linked to the city of Rouen, the original city of his own family. The link with Rouen should be emphasized in particular, given that he became a member of the relative school: born in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was part of the Neo-Impressionist movement and experienced with Dumont himself and Robert Antoine Pinchon a second generation of artists who were also influenced by the new artistic instances of Fauvism and Cubism; Dumont's master, Joseph Delattre, was also a member of the school but during the first generation. The works of this artist are all signed with the pseudonym André Jallot, as we can also see in this painting in the lower right corner; further connections with his production can be found in the choice of subject: the river landscape was in fact a constant throughout his career, as shown by the views of the towns along the banks of the Seine or also by the urban perspectives of Paris and Rouen, of which he portrayed the famous cathedral multiple times, constantly returning over the years, albeit with stylistic differences that testify to his constant critical and artistic updating. The foundation of the Groupe des XXX first and of the Société Normande de Peinture, which included Marcel Duchamp and Jacques Villon, among others, the active participation in the organization of Salons both in Paris and Rouen and the writing of articles in art magazines make us understand how much the painter was aware of the stylistic innovations elaborated by his colleagues. Although his works show experimentation in the direction of Cubism and Pointillism, these latter arrive especially in the final part of his career, while instead the characteristics of this view are more closely linked to the Impressionism of the first part of his career; the definition of the contours in the buildings, closer to reality, leaves room for a broader, material brushstroke that mixes the contours of the background between the sky, mountains and the reflections in the bright waters of the river. The future evolutions of his art, the experimentations, the abrupt changes and his polyhedral nature demonstrate an immersive journey in French art between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that gives an essay of the artistic, intellectual and aesthetic capabilities of an artist capable of grasping the changes in taste and style of his own era, starting from Impressionism to the Avant-gardes of the early twentieth century.