LÉON CARRÉ (1878-1942)
Jebel Amour, Jebel Ksel (2,008 m - 6,588 ft)
Algeria
In Paysage d'Algérie, oil on canvas
The mountain
The Jebel Amour (Amour Range) of which Highest point is Jebel Ksel ( 2,008 m - 6,588 ft) is located in the central area of the Saharan Atlas, with the Ksour Range in the western end and the Ouled-Naïl Range in the eastern end.
The town of Aflou, one of the highest municipalities in Algeria and also one of the coldest, is located in the range at an elevation of 1,426 m. There are about 35,000 people living in the area of the Amour Range. In Taouïala (تاوياله), located 35 km to the southeast of Aflou, there is an ecotouristic village. The mountains of the Amour Range have altitudes averaging between 1,400 and 2000 m. The highest summit of the range is Djebel Ksel, which sits at an elevation of 2,008 m.
Other notable peaks are:
Guern Arif (1,721 m ; Mount Sidi Okba (1,707 m ; Mount Gourou 1,7O6m ; Oum El Guedour 1,686 m ; Kef Sidi Bouzid 1,503 m).
The artist
The French orientalist painter and illustrator Léon Carré entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, then he joined the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris on 1896 thanks to Léon Bonnat. He was the double winner of the Chenavard prize. He exhibited at the Salon of French Artists in 1900 and, in 1905, at the Salon des Independants, and made a first trip to Algeria in 1907.
He exhibited at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts from 1911, and at the Autumn Fair.
Winner of the Villa Abd-el-Tif scholarship in 1909, he settled in Algiers. Orientalist painter, he practices oil, gouache and pastel. In 1927, Léon Carré helped decorate the Ile-de-France liner for the Transatlantic Company, and designed numerous posters for the PLM Company (including the centenary of Algeria in 1930).
He also drew the 50 franc banknote issued by the Bank of Algeria in 1942.
He was recently rediscovered as a great landscaper regarded to his numerous post impressionist paintings and watercolors of Atlas mountains and Kabylia landscapes (see above)
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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
