Gustave Madelain
French (1867-1944)
Landscape painter Gustave Madelain was born in Charly (now Charly-sur-Marne) in 1867. Though little is known of Madelain’s education, he debuted at the Salon des IndĂ©pendents in 1907 and was by all accounts successful. He was drawn to busy ports along the Seine — particularly in Rouen, L’Havre and Paris — and acquired a reputation as a painter of river docks, though his oeuvre also includes street scenes and cityscapes. Note the subdued palette and vigorous brushwork applied to this view of modern Paris: A small crowd gathers by a barge, cranes dot the skyline and smoke rises from a boat on the river. This industrial imagery is enhanced by the geometry of the piece: the underside of the bridge serves as a framing device, its shape echoed in another bridge in the background.
