Urban Landscape

In his cityscapes P. Krémègne often painted geometricised contours of buildings, their distinctive rhythm, and thus created an elated and joyful mood. He paid much attention to the emotional impact of colours and liked to use aesthetic hints, omissions and sketchiness.

Text author Dalia Tarandaitė

The bees of The Beehive. Impoverished Litvak artists in Paris in the early 20th century began to settle in the Montparnasse area, which was more affordable than the popular studios and the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre. The art patron and sculptor Alfred Boucher bought a wine rotunda designed by Gustave Eiffel that had been in Montparnasse since the Great Exposition of 1900, and let out small low-cost studios to immigrant artists in which to live and work. Due to its round shape and the artists being as busy as bees, the pavilion earned the nickname of La Ruche, or The Beehive. Its small studios were a second home to artists, where they could work, search for new forms of expression, and feel that they were part of the international art scene.

Pinchus Krémègne, who spent 15 years (1912 to 1927) in The Beehive, exerted a strong influence on the aesthetics of the Paris school. He painted from life, and was especially fond of travelling to paint in the open air in picturesque parts of France and Sweden, where his wife was from. His landscapes, capturing different times of day and seasons of the year, are characterised by a wide range of colours and moods. Krémègne was mostly interested in colour. He wrote: ‘I organise my canvases in the same way that a conductor organises an orchestra. Each colour is an instrument that has its own part to play’ (René Huyghe, Jean Miller, Krémègne 1890–1981, 1993, p. 6).

Text author Vilma Gradinskaitė

P. Krémègne © ADAGP/LATGA, Vilnius, 2019

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE WORLD OF LANDSCAPES I (2010). Text authors Nijolė Tumėnienė, Dalia Tarandaitė, STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė
Expositions: “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p. 229.
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024

In his cityscapes P. Krémègne often painted geometricised contours of buildings, their distinctive rhythm, and thus created an elated and joyful mood. He paid much attention to the emotional impact of colours and liked to use aesthetic hints, omissions and sketchiness.

Text author Dalia Tarandaitė

The bees of The Beehive. Impoverished Litvak artists in Paris in the early 20th century began to settle in the Montparnasse area, which was more affordable than the popular studios and the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre. The art patron and sculptor Alfred Boucher bought a wine rotunda designed by Gustave Eiffel that had been in Montparnasse since the Great Exposition of 1900, and let out small low-cost studios to immigrant artists in which to live and work. Due to its round shape and the artists being as busy as bees, the pavilion earned the nickname of La Ruche, or The Beehive. Its small studios were a second home to artists, where they could work, search for new forms of expression, and feel that they were part of the international art scene.

Pinchus Krémègne, who spent 15 years (1912 to 1927) in The Beehive, exerted a strong influence on the aesthetics of the Paris school. He painted from life, and was especially fond of travelling to paint in the open air in picturesque parts of France and Sweden, where his wife was from. His landscapes, capturing different times of day and seasons of the year, are characterised by a wide range of colours and moods. Krémègne was mostly interested in colour. He wrote: ‘I organise my canvases in the same way that a conductor organises an orchestra. Each colour is an instrument that has its own part to play’ (René Huyghe, Jean Miller, Krémègne 1890–1981, 1993, p. 6).

Text author Vilma Gradinskaitė

P. Krémègne © ADAGP/LATGA, Vilnius, 2019

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE WORLD OF LANDSCAPES I (2010). Text authors Nijolė Tumėnienė, Dalia Tarandaitė, STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė
Expositions: “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p. 229.
© LATGA, Vilnius 2024