Léon CAUVY (Montpellier, 1874 - Algiers, 1933) The Port of Algiers Oil on panel signed lower left 32,5 x 41 cm Nice frame between the two world wars A student at the Beaux-Arts de Montpellier, Léon Cauvy exhibited at the Société des Artistes Français from 1902. In 1907, along with Paul Jouve, he was the first resident chosen for the creation of the Villa Abd-el-Tif, the Algerian "Villa Medici". He remained in Algiers where he became director of the School of Fine Arts until his death. He exercised a great influence on his students, many of whom became renowned painters. He himself was very successful with his paintings of a personal style (where some will recognize the influence of Frank Brangwyn), paintings whose favorite subjects were the markets, the shepherds and their flocks and especially the port of Algiers. Cauvy exhibited regularly at the Salon des peintres orientalistes français and at the Salon des Artistes orientalistes algériens. In 1925, he presented at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts a series of panels that would later decorate the Palais d'Eté in Algiers. The poster he created in 1930 for the Centenary of French Algeria, distributed in thousands of copies, made him famous in the metropolis.