BIOGRAPHY - Eugene Galien-Laloue (1854 - 1941)

Some artists or writers are content to have a pseudonym to disguise their work. Eugène Galien-Laloue was particularly adept at establishing several identities, since over the course of his career he worked under three pseudonyms: J. Lievin, after a soldier he met during the Franco-Prussian War; E. Galiany, an Italianized version of his own name; and L. Dupuy, after Dupuy Léon, who lived in his same area. While these are three confirmed names that he used, there is the possibility that he used other names as well. Even the name Galien is questionable, since it is occasionally spelled Gallien, including on his birth certificate. Why the artist went to such great lengths to perplex audiences and historians is a question that remains unanswered.  Despite preoccupation with the reclusive nature of this man, he depicted Paris and the surrounding landscape with his cool palette. In doing so, he became another recorder of popular Parisian life. He balanced his architectural interest in Paris with several landscape views and was an equally, if not more proficient, draughtsman.

He was born on December 11, 1854, in Montmartre, the eldest of nine children. His father, Charles, died when he was sixteen years old, after which point his mother, Endoxie, found him a job at the local notary. But shortly after, the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1871, and he felt the nationalistic urge to enlist in the military. Quitting his job and faking his name, he served in the French military through the end of the conflict. By then, he had decided to become a painter. For such an eager participant in the military, to turn immediately to painting must have been a reaction against the bloody events of the war; a way to forget what he had seen. In 1874, he was employed by the French Railway lines as an illustrator, depicting the rail track that was being laid from Paris to the provinces. Concurrently, he began painting the surrounding landscapes as well.

While practical, this was unusual training for a young art student. His artistic education seemed to come via his other jobs. He exhibited for the first time in 1876 at the Museum of Reims, showing Le quai aux fleurs par la neige (Flower Market Along the Seine Under the Snow). The following year, he exhibited for the first time at the annual Paris Salon, showing En Normandie (In Normandy) as well as two gouaches. He preferred gouaches because they were less time-consuming than oils and commanded comparable prices. At this time, he listed his teacher as M.C. Laloue. This could be his late father Claude Laloue, who worked as a painter, or it could be an uncle.

From the beginning of his career and perhaps spurred by his travels along the railway lines, Galien Laloue became interested in showing the natural environment. While not uncommon, it was perhaps an interesting theme for an artist who did not necessarily seek to connect with nature. He did not prefer to paint en plein-air, since he “hated to walk in any mud and even a blade of grass bothered him.”[i]

He had a reclusive personality, which also may explain the reasons behind his numerous pseudonyms. He preferred the solitude of his studio and thus did not paint his works entirely on-site. Unlike many other artists, he did not like to travel, with many of his landscapes and street scenes being inspired by postcards and photographs. This was a trend many artists followed as photography became a more established method of use. Noë Willer further elaborates upon the unique personality of this artist:

He was not eccentric but always conservative, practically a royalist.  He was obsessed with his painting.  In his private life he found simplicity alluring: he married three sisters, one after the other (beginning with the youngest and ending with the oldest).  They had all lived next door to him.  He lived a monastic life.  All worldly pursuits, games, alcohol, the pleasure of the flesh were not for him. Riding his bicycle to places in Paris to paint was his only physical exercise.[ii]

His personality kept him at a distance from his contemporaries who were working in his same manner. He was more concerned with the sale of his paintings, of which he kept scrupulous notes despite selling each painting for the same price. He was an active participant in the annual Salons until 1889, where he exhibited two gouaches Bernay and Bords de la Meuse (Banks of the Meuse). After this point, he took a five-year sabbatical, during which his daughter was born. He returned to the Salon in 1904 with Le Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle. He also submitted his works to exhibitions in Angers and Saint Quentin, where his work received the following review:

Once again we mention Mr. Eugène Galien-Laloue for his lovely gouaches, as full as oils, which show most picturesquely the popular quarters of Paris.[iii]

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, he also exhibited at Dijon, Orléans, Versailles, Roubaix, Saint Etienne, Bordeaux, Monte Carlo, Hautecoeur, and several other cities.

As World War I broke out, he was exempt from military service due to his age and because he had volunteered for the Franco-Prussian War. Instead, he took to his canvas and depicted scenes of soldiers in the midst of battle, paying close attention to the setting and other details such as their dress and movement. His own previous military experience must have inspired his depictions. In his military scenes, his figures are given a more prominent role than in either his Parisian scenes or his landscape paintings. The wartime paintings are more intimate, like he identified with these soldiers.

Galien-Laloue continued to paint until 1940, when he broke his dominant arm. Despite his reluctance to integrate himself with others, his paintings offer a record of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Paris. His work focuses not so much on the relationship between its inhabitants, but more so on the architectural aspects of the city.  He moved out of Paris many times to depict the landscapes of Normandy and the surroundings of Barbizon, making his home for a short time in Fontainebleau. While his Parisian scenes were often of the fall and winter, he preferred to document the landscape during the brighter months of spring and summer. He also documented life along the canals, the seaside, and riverbanks, showing an interest in maritime exploits. He had become very popular among French and especially American artistic circles, continuing to paint the same scenes of Paris throughout his career. He died in his daughter’s house in Chérence, where they had taken refuge at the beginning of the Second World War, on April 18th, 1941.

[i] Noë Willer, Eugène Galien-Laloue: 1854-1941, New York: Alexander Kahan, 1999, pg. 16
[ii] Ibid
[iii] Ibid, pg. 33