Artists

Achille Laugé

French, 1861-1944

Achille Laugé spent most of his life in Cailhau near Carcassonne. In 1881, he went to Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts; some common students of his generation include Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Paul Laurens. In 1888, after seven years in Paris and a term of military service, Laugé returned to his native south of France. He first moved to Carcassone, and then in 1895, he moved to Cailhau where he spent the rest of his life. 

Laugé was in Paris during the critical years from 1886 to1888 (Seurat's La Grande Jatte was first exhibited amidst much controversy in 1886) and his contact with Neo- Impressionism should not be underestimated. In 1894 he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, as well as at a Toulouse exhibition with de Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Sérusier, Roussel, Toulouse-Lautrec and Vuillard. Later on in his life, he held several one-man shows in Paris from 1907 to 1930.

Though thoroughly influenced by the theories of the time, upon departure from Paris Laugé developed his own divisionist technique, following the lead of Seurat and the Pointillists. Laugé never adopted Seurat’s scientific attitude; rather his interest in primary and vivid colors led his to develop an energetic, translucent palette. Laugé’s pictures comprised small points of color. He later went on to paint landscapes, portraits, and still-lives with thin, systematically placed strokes resembling en treillis crosshatching. After 1905 he applied his pigments more freely, with enlarged strokes and thick impasto that brought him closer to a traditional impressionist technique whilst maintaining his ability to paint the translucence of southern light.

Provenance:
Private Collection, United States, Florida 30 years