« Art can be made great anywhere, it is not the place, it is the man »
Letter to Carol Storck, July 30, 1881

April 2021: At the time of writing, art museums and events have become inaccessible. Somewhat frustrated to be unable to visit or travel, the Endowment Fund’s art historians have chartered the course of the artist’s works, taking us around the world with them, and giving us a broader insight into the commercial and artistic routes of a man who took pride in his work and exhibiting it.

Conceived and developed by Corisande Evesque, one of the Fund’s art historians, the interactive map of Delachaux’s exhibition history is updated as new findings are made. Illustrating the status of our research on this subject, it shines new light on the life and work of the artist and enables us to view Delachaux’s commitment to international salons, galleries and curators. From 1879 to 1918, he developed an impressive national and international network, taking part in more than 200 exhibitions worldwide.
We invite you to follow in his footsteps.

Delachaux was twenty-six when, as a visitor to the influential Philadelphia Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, he discovered his passion for painting. It was there that he first encountered the Barbizon School of painters, Bartholdi’s torch for the future Statue of Liberty or Jules Dalou’s Brodeuse.

His exhibiting career lasted almost forty years, from 1879 in Philadelphia – date of his first known exhibition – until 1918 in Paris, shortly before his death. From the start of his career in North America we witness the lively and colorful bourgeois interiors and portraits of Black Americans. Once back in France, he adapts his style to the simplicity of peasant life, employing subtle and delicate tones. Throughout his career, he also proved to be an excellent portraitist.

Delachaux obtained his U.S. citizenship in 1883 and began his exhibition career listed as an American national. Exhibiting yearly at the Salon des Artistes Français and then at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, he also partook in the World Fairs of Paris (1889 and 1900), Chicago (1893), Saint-Louis (1904), Brussels (1910), Ghent (1913) and San Francisco (1915).

His work crisscrossed France thanks to the dynamic momentum of the Sociétés des Amis des Arts. He also gained exposure elsewhere in Europe, through exhibits featuring French and international artists. From 1886 to 1903, he exhibited in group and traveling exhibitions organized by the Société Suisse des Beaux-Arts, commonly known as Turnus. We note his presence at exhibitions run by Société des Amis des Arts of Neuchâtel and La Chaux-de-Fonds – his family birthplace – as well as the Exposition nationale des Beaux-Arts in Bern and the Exposition municipale des Beaux-Arts in Geneva. In Switzerland alone, Delachaux took part in close to 50 shows, second in number only to France.

In 1902 his work was sent to Asia, where it was shown in Hanoi in an exhibit to commemorate the new capital of French Indochina. His art traveled all the way to South America in 1910, where his Costurera was shown at the Exposición Internacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago de Chile, and where it still remains today.

Even though Delachaux achieved true recognition in his time, he, like many talented naturalist painters, has been forgotten over the last century. His success can be measured by the sheer number of exhibitions in which he took part, the works acquired by the French government during his lifetime and those present in public collections worldwide, yet his work still remains under-recognized today.

Hasta el 4 de noviembre de 2018, el Museo Fournaise presenta la exposición L’âge de raison vu par les peintres au XIXe siècle (La era de la razón vista por los pintores en el siglo XIX).

Destaca obras que ilustran la juventud entre las edades de siete y doce años, realizadas durante el período de 1830 a 1914.
Delachaux se combina con Dehodencq, Lebasque, Muenier, Valadon y Bonvin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Fondo de Dotación Léon Delachaux está muy satisfecho de que The Affectionate Mother (La Madre cariñosa) sea una de las obras seleccionadas para ilustrar el tema de la infancia feliz, tan apreciado por el propio artista.
En 1883, Léon Delachaux representa a Pauline y a Clarence en vísperas de su regreso a Europa. Clarence observa, con la atención de sus ocho años a su madre, Pauline repara su pequeño velero. Símbolo de su inminente salida, la maqueta luce la bandera estadounidense. El título The Affectionate Mother, inscrito en la parte posterior de la pintura por el propio artista, expresa los sentimientos del pintor por aquellos dos seres.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anne Galloyer, curadora del Museo Fournaise de Chatou y Marie Delachaux, presidenta del Fondo de Dotación Léon Delachaux rodean The Affectionate Mother.
The Affectionate Mother, 1883, óleo sobre tela, 46 x 36 cm. Colección privada.

 

Informaciones prácticas:
L’Âge de raison vu par les peintres au XIXe siècle
Hasta el 4 de noviembre de 2018
Musée Fournaise - Ile des Impressionnistes - 78400 Chatou
+33 (0)1 34 80 63 22 – www.musee-fournaise.com
 
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It is in Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love
and capital of nineteenth-century American art,
that Léon Delachaux discovers
his vocation and starts a family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Self-portrait with Overcoat (detail). Black chalk, 30 x 30 cm. Private Collection.
Portrait of Pauline with a Hat (detail), 1894. Pastel on paper mounted on canvas, 56 x 47 cm. Private Collection.
Portrait of Clarence Delachaux (detail), 1887. Oil on canvas, 39.5 x 31.8 cm. Private Collection.
Photos: Stéphane Briolant

Known for its quality of life and as a center for the arts,
“Philly” is also home to the founding principals of a nation:
the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
and the Constitution of the United States (1787).

Timeline:
In 1875, in Philadelphia, Léon Delachaux marries Marie-Apolline Noël,
a French immigrant like himself, who gives birth to their only son, Clarence.

In 1876, Delachaux is recorded as a watchcase engraver.
The Philadelphia Centennial International Exhibition (World’s Fair)
takes place the same year.
It is here, at the age of 26, that he discovers painting.
He enrolls at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (P.A.F.A.).

A man, an artist is born.

From 1878 to 1880, Delachaux lives with his family in a studio
at 1934 Locust Street, a studio he shares with another P.A.F.A. student,
the Romanian sculptor Carol Stork.
It is here that he paints using models.

From 1879 to 1886, Delachaux studies at the P.A.F.A. under the controversial
Thomas Eakins, father of American Realism.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Delachaux exhibits in the United States from 1880 to 1915:
Louisville, KY; New York, NY; Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA;
Indianapolis, IN; Pittsburg, PA; Saint Louis, MI.

At the P.A.F.A. in Philadelphia, Delachaux exhibits in both permanent
and special exhibitions.
Six of his works are exhibited together, thanks to Delachaux’s collector Harrison Earl,
who makes a long-term loan of his collection to the P.A.F.A.

The Unfortunate Accident, circa 1880. Oil on canvas, 36.8 x 21.6 cm. Private Collection.
Photo: Stéphane Briolant

In 1883, Delachaux and his family return to France,
thanks to his picture dealer who finances the voyage.
In return, the painter will send all his French pictures to Philadelphia.
This explains why so many works by Delachaux are now in the United States.

Summer (detail), 1881. Oil on canvas, 56 x 51 cm. Private Collection.
The Affectionate Mother (detail), 1883. Oil on canvas, 45.7 x 38.7 cm. Private Collection.
Gray Day at the Bridge in Grez (detail), 1885. Oil on canvas, 40.01 x 60.33 cm. Private Collection.
Photos: Stéphane Briolant

Delachaux’s nationality has caused some confusion among art historians.
With reason: he is born in France of a Swiss father,
becomes a naturalized American in 1883 and in 1907 recovers his French nationality
while retaining the inalienable rights to his Swiss nationality!

In 1900, Delachaux buys a beautiful home with an art studio in Saint-Amand-Montrond,
a small town in central France, where he spends the last twenty years of his life.
However, he continues to journey into the French countryside
as well as to Paris and Grez-sur-Loing where his son Clarence and his family live.

Léon Delachaux dies in 1919. He is buried at Grez-sur-Loing, alongside his spouse.

Alumno de la Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts de Filadelfia, escuela que integró en 1876 bajo la égida de Thomas Eakins, Léon Delachaux expone en los Estados Unidos a partir de 1879. Expondrá varias veces hasta 1915, desde la costa este hasta la costa oeste estadounidenses.

Sus obras no se quedan en San Francisco y viajan con las grandes exposiciones internacionales organizadas en América del Sur a principios del siglo XX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Léon Delachaux, La Lingère (Costurera), (detalle). Chile – Santiago – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Es en este marco que tuvo lugar, en 1910, la Exposición Internacional del Centenario, que celebraba el centenario de la independencia de Chile. El periodista chileno Alberto Mackenna Subercaseaux, un intelectual de origen francés, fue uno de los responsables del evento y el principal comisario de la exposición. En sur libro Luchas por el Arte, relata su viaje a Europa y promueve la idea, muy difundida entre las elites chilenas a finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX, de educar el gusto nacional chileno gracias a los modelos europeo y norteamericano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chile – Santiago – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Entre las 1 600 obras internacionales expuestas, 65 obras francesas están adquiridas por el museo. La transacción se realiza mediante el Comité permanent des Expositions françaises à l’étranger, presidido por el pintor Léon Bonnat (1833-1922).

La lingère (Costurera), forma parte de ellas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Léon Delachaux, La Lingère (Costurera), c. 1909, oleo sobre tela, 63,5 x 51 cm. Chile – Santiago – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Natalia Keller, investigadora en el Departamento de las Colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Santiago, la comenta en los términos siguientes:
«La costurera está sentada en un interior modesto, lleno de objetos de la vida cotidiana: boles y jarros dispuestos sobre una mesa con cajón, accesorios de costura sobre la silla, un gran reloj de pared, y en el muro del fondo, un espejo, que apenas se distingue. El cuadro representa el arquetipo de la ama de casa ideal, que correspondía al papel de la mujer en la sociedad, tal como estaba definido por las autoridades de la nueva república chilena de los principios del siglo.»

En enero de 2017, Natalia Keller recibe a Marie Delachaux, Presidenta del Fondo de Dotación Léon Delachaux, en el Museo de Bellas Artes y le muestra la obra de su bisabuelo. Una colaboración entre Santiago y París surgió a raíz de este encuentro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natalia Keller y Marie Delachaux, enero de 2017. Chile – Santiago – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
 
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