René PÉAN (1875-1955): « Jeune femme souriante »

René Louis Péan, born in Paris on July 1, 1875 and died in Ermont (Val-d'Oise) on September 4, 1955, was a French painter, poster designer and illustrator. A pupil of Jules Chéret, he created between 1895 and 1905 in the Chaix workshop many posters for the world of entertainment and leisure. His family is from Sarthe and settled in Paris at the beginning of the Second Empire. In 1889 he entered Jules Chéret's studio as an apprentice lithographer, which became, after 1881, the Imprimerie Chaix, at 20 rue Bergère, where he remained until 1910. In 1891, he also studied lithography at the École of the decorative arts of Paris. At Chaix, where he had colleagues Lucien Lefèvre and Georges Meunier, his production of posters for the theatre, tourism, department stores, modern manufactured goods, was abundant: around 150 posters between 1895 and 1913. They portrayed smiling and elegant young women or landscapes and monuments described with almost photographic precision. Two of his productions have been reproduced among the boards of the Masters of the Poster: A la place Clichy (1898) and Aux Trois Quartiers (1899). In December 1899, an article devoted to the play Shakespeare in the magazine La Rampe attests to the fact that he was the designer of the costumes. In 1901, he participated in the cent collection and in 1903, in the competition for the Byrrh poster. He also draws for the press. . The war seems to have marked a break in his career: his production of posters is much less important after the 1920s. He then seems to turn to the creation of works for advertising purposes in the form of chromolithographs representing young girls seen from three -quarters, with varied hairstyles (Columbine tricorn, beret...) that we meet with an astonishing resemblance to his contemporary Marcel Bloch. His oil paintings, watercolors and pastels take up fashionable subjects. He is the friend of Alfons Mucha.