Orientalist painting by Myrto Debard 20th century

Subject: portrait of a mauritanian support: oil on panel frame dimensions: 75 X 65 cm painting dimensions: 61 X 50 cm condition: good condition period: 20th century signed lower left born on may 18, 1900 in trescléoux, a small village in the hautes-alpes where her father was a pastor, myrto debard showed a real artistic temperament at a very young age. Supported by a family atmosphere where painting, music and poetry were part of daily life. In 1913, her father was called to algeria where he settled with his wife and his two youngest twin daughters, lili and myrto. A scholarship holder at the beaux-arts in paris, she worked for five years at the atelier lucien simon, then with othon friez. Myrto debard then undertook a series of trips that took her to niger, mali and mauritania, where she met “the blue men” whose nobility and mystery seduced her and who would mark all her work. Her travels, which she continued for almost thirty more years, led her to discover casamance, guinea, ivory coast and upper volta, where she constantly renewed her inspiration. However, she kept a secret preference for the men of the desert, of whom she remained the great painter. From 1937 to 1983, more than fifty exhibitions in paris, aix-en-provence, bamako, abidjan and nouackchott, each year in dakar, then in gorée, punctuated the artist's career. She died in paris on october 30, 1983.