René Sautin (1881-1968) - La Fontaine Sainte Clotilde - Dans les près

René SAUTIN (1881-1968)

The Fountain of Sainte Clotilde - In the meadows

Sketch excerpt from the artist's sketchbooks.
Ink and watercolor on double-sided paper
Dimensions of the artwork: 21 x 27 cm
Unsigned

Provenance: Private collection, Les Andelys.

Exhibition: René Sautin, the 'off' exhibition, Les Andelys, October 2018.
Reproduced in the catalog, page 143.

Watercolor in perfect condition
Unframed

This painting will be listed in the catalogue raisonné of the artist's work currently being prepared by Robert and Thierry Tuffier.

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René Sautin (1881-1968) was born in Montfort-sur-Risle in 1881.
He entered the Beaux-Arts de Rouen in the painting workshop of the painter P. Zacharie, then in Paris in the Ferrier workshop where he received advice from Albert Lebourg, a native of the same village. He then joined the Indépendants with Signac and Luce.
He married in 1910, with Marthe, settled in Les Andelys in 1911, and befriended the Pissarro, Signac, Luce, Derain, Guillaumin, Lebasque, Bigot, and Gernez sons, who gathered in Les Andelys to paint along the banks of the Seine.
Imbued with his Norman land, René Sautin will primarily be a landscape painter. Around 1923, he abandons the impressionist style for a calm and reasoned Fauvism.
The painter, having found balance in his means of expression starting in 1925, reached his full potential in the 1950s. He is one of the few Norman painters to depict his landscapes in such a personal manner through their power, a certain controlled violence, and a strong sensitivity.
A proud, distinguished, and highly cultivated man, he suffered greatly from not being understood in his time and regretted this isolation: "My life has often been hard and difficult..."
René Sautin was born in the same village as the famous painter Albert Lebourg, in Montfort sur Risle. But it is in Les Andelys that he will spend the greatest part of his life.
After primary and secondary studies in Montfort sur Risle and Pont-Audemer, René Sautin immediately turned to drawing: 'Once my studies were finished, equipped with a classical background, I entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Rouen, in the workshop of painter Philippe Zacharie, a distinguished master for whom drawing was a precious metal. Then I moved to Paris, where I spent a year in the Ferrier workshop... and I embarked on painting with some good friends, listening to the advice of painter Albert Lebourg.'
René Sautin will leave the capital in 1911 to settle in the Andelys with his wife Marthe.
The first period of his work is heavily influenced by Albert Lebourg, but his temperament quickly draws him towards a Fauvist style with calm and well-considered colors. He himself described his painting as follows: "Painting, essentially, is spreading dough and not rubbing. From there, I paint thickly in full paste, without smoothing, each stroke being definitive. I never revisit a tone once the stroke is laid down. This gives great power and character to my painting. Damn it! Nature is assertive. What makes the beauty of a tone is its daring and rich color. All the art of painting lies in doing or interpreting as one feels, as one sees; everything else is snobbery. Painting is about externalizing one's temperament. It is an interpretation of one's thoughts that is passed on to others."
The period of the Second World War profoundly unsettles the artist, because without a doubt, René Sautin is a true lover of Andelys. He constantly paints the Seine, the quays of Petit-Andely, and Château Gaillard. He often paints in the same places, but each time he creates a new work.

Or, on June 8, 1940, the Germans bombed the town of Les Andelys. It was then discovered that the city was ninety percent destroyed. The churches were spared, as were a few houses, but the entire town center disappeared under the barrage of explosive and incendiary bombs.
During this period, artists lost their desire to paint. Nevertheless, René Sautin created a series of watercolors the day after the bombings, as if he wished to preserve a testimony for future generations of the city's apocalyptic vision.

From then on, his work changes. His drawing becomes more defined, outlined in black.
On the Seine, barges have the tricolour pennant. In the 1950s, René Sautin continued this trend of emphasizing his drawing. Unfortunately, he gradually lost his sight. The artist compensated for his vision loss with increasingly violent and vivid colors. He stopped painting permanently in 1964, four years before his death.