390 - After Mathurin MÉHEUT (1882–1958)

After Mathurin MÉHEUT (1882–1958) Parade—Christmas 1917 Enhanced color lithograph Monogrammed in the lower right corner and dated 1917 on the plate 38 x 42 cm Any applicable resale royalty is the responsibility of the purchaser. The condition report is available upon request at the following email address: contact@neo-encheres.com Description: When war broke out in 1914, Mathurin Méheut was in Japan, where he had traveled on a scholarship from the Albert Kahn Foundation. Upon his return to France, he joined the 136th Infantry Regiment in Saint-Lô in October and served on the Artois, Argonne, Somme, and Champagne fronts before being assigned in 1916 to the topographical service of the 10th Army Corps. The four years of the war gave rise to a considerable body of artwork: sketches made from life, watercolors, and nearly a thousand letters to his family, often adorned with drawings. This watercolor, dated 1917, bears witness to this daily chronicle of soldiers’ lives, which Méheut shared with other mobilized Breton artists such as Jean-Julien Lemordant and Jean-Marie Conseil. After the war, he illustrated works by Pierre Loti, Anatole Le Braz, Colette, and Roland Dorgelès; worked for Henriot in Quimper; and, alongside Charles Cottet, Lucien Simon, Henri Rivière, and his disciple Yvonne Jean-Haffen, became one of the leading figures in 20th-century Breton art.