Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer
Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (30 September 1865 – 24 September 1953) was a French artist and a leading exponent of fin-de-siècle Symbolism and Art Nouveau. His works include paintings, drawings, ceramics, furniture and interior design. Early life. Born Lucien Lévy to a Jewish family in Algiers, French Algeria in 1865, he began studying drawing and sculpture in Paris at the Ecole Supérieure de Dessin et de Sculpture in 1879. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 where he showed a small ceramic plaque. In 1887 Lévy began making his living near Cannes in southern France , overseeing the decoration of ceramics. From 1886 to 1895 he worked as a ceramic decorator and then as artistic director of the studio of Clément Massier. Around 1892 he signed his first pieces of ceramics, which were influenced by Islamic Art. In 1895 he left for Paris to begin a career in painting; around this time he visited Italy and was further influenced by art of the Renaissance. Career. In 1896 he exhibited his first pastels and paintings under the name Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer; he had added the last two syllables of his mother's maiden name (Goldhurmer), likely to  differentiate himself from other people named Lévy. His paintings soon became popular with the public and among fellow artists as well. He earned high praise for the academic attention to detail with which he captured figures lost in a Pre-Raphaelite haze of melancholy, contrasted with bright Impressionist colouration. His portrait of writer Georges Rodenbach is perhaps the most striking example of this strange and extraordinary synergy. After 1901 Lévy-Dhurmer moved away from expressly Symbolist content, incorporating more landscapes into his work because of his travels in Europe and North Africa. He continued to draw inspiration from music and  attempted to capture works of great composers such as Beethoven in painted form. Personal life. In 1914 Lévy-Dhurmer married Emmy Fournier, who had been an editor of the early feminist newspaper "La Fronde". By this time he was working primarily on landscapes, both oil and pastel, in a style similar to Whistler and Monet. Death. Lévy-Dhurmer died in Le Vésinet in 1953. Works. Music : French Art Nouveau interior : Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer realised the architectural setting of the house of Auguste Rateau (1863–1930) between 1910 and 1914. The entire room "Wisteria Dining room" is now conserved at the Metropolitan  Museum.