Georges Lacombe Paintings For Sale

Georges Lacombe was the son of the painter Laure Lacombe, who taught him to draw. His father was a cabinet-maker and taught him how to work with wood. In 1891 he produced four decorative wood sculptures that were Symbolist in style. In 1892 he met Sérusier who introduced him to the Nabis and Lacombe soon became the sculptor of the group. He made frequent summer visits to Camaret in Brittany where he worked alongside painters such as Cottet, Maufra and Rivière. In 1897 he married Marthe Wenger, the daughter of Gabrielle Wenger, and moved to a house called L'Ermitage in the Ecouves Forest at Alençon. He stayed at L'Ermitage until his death. He was introduced to Theo Van Rysselbegrhe around 1905 - it was Van Rysselberghe who introduced Lacombe to Neo-Impressionism - a style which the painter would adopt during the period 1906 to 1907.

Lacombe produced numerous oil and pastel portraits and carved low reliefs in wood, such as Breton Dances, Cursed Women and Sower. He also produced busts, including those of Bertrand, Bonnard, Denis, Roussel and Sérusier (which decorates Sérusier's tomb at Morlaix), and figurine statuettes for the Paul Ranson puppet theatre. An artist and a craftsman, Lacombe enjoyed carving wood and in 1892, like Gauguin, created a bed with four panels symbolising Birth, Love, Dream and Death. Lacombe practised a range of different techniques and was a Symbolist by inspiration. Influenced by Gauguin and by Japanese drawings and paintings, some of his work has almost fantastic elements. From 1900 onwards he produced mainly female figures in bronze.

Lacombe exhibited at many exhibitions, including: the 5th Exposition des Peintres Symbolistes at the Galerie Le Barc de Boutteville (1893), the 6th exhibition (1894), the eighth (1896) and the 11th; The Ten ( Les Dix) at the Galerie Vollard in Paris (1897); an exhibition of the work of the Nabis (Bonnard, Ibels, Ranson, Rippl-Ronai, Roussel, Sérusier, Vallotton and Vuillard) and of Odilon Redon at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris (1899); and at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1899). Six works by Lacombe were shown as part of the retrospective exhibition Les Nabis mounted by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in 1993 in Paris.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Brest (MBA): Yellow Sea, Camaret
Lille (MBA): Mary Magdalene Praying (painted wood)
Paris (Mus. d'Orsay): Love; Birth; Dream; Death (four panels of a wooden bed)
Quimper (MBA): Forest with Red Floor (c. 1891)
Rennes (MBA): Blue Seascape with Waves
St-Germain-en-Laye (Mus. du Prieuré-Maurice-Denis)

Georges Lacombe Paintings For Sale