THE AIGUILLE VERTE ( 2) BY JACQUES FOURCY

 

JACQUES FOURCY (1906-1990)
Aiguille Verte (4,122m - 13,525 ft)
France (Haute-Savoie)

In The Aiguille Verte from Chamonix, oil on canvas

The mountain
The Aiguille verte (4122 - 13,525 ft) ( The Green Needle) is a summit of the Mont-Blanc massif in Haute-Savoie,. It is one of 82 summits over 4,000 meters identified in the Alps. This vast mountain, difficult to access and long undefeated, is articulated on three slopes:
- the southern slope, where its normal ascent route develops, the Whymper corridor. Access is by the refuge of the cover (2,867 meters). The descent by this route is perilous and supposes to keep a tight schedule (go down before the corridor is too exposed to the sun) and excellent snow and ice conditions; a recently installed abseiling line currently allows for a less risky descent;
- the Nant-Blanc slope, which overlooks the Chamonix valley;
- the north side or Argentière side, where we notice in particular the Couturier corridor, a long snow and ice slide more than a thousand meters high.
Below and between these two slopes is the Grands-Montets ski resort.
None of the routes to the summit are easy

The painter
Jacques Fourcy was a French painter, member of the Société des peintres de montagnes.
Born in Paris, he studied engineering at Ecole Centrale Paris and then joined the railways firm Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM), then the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer. A prisoner of war for five years, he was repatriated as a result of the loss of one eye; he later receives the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945.
His training seems to be that of an self taught one. He began to paint very early, especially watercolors at first. He paints in his spare time and after his retirement. He joined the Société des peintres de montagnes in 1925 and exhibited at the Salon of French artists from 1926. Well known for his particularly lively and colorful watercolors, he also devoted himself, especially after the Second World War, to the oil painting most often done on panels (Isorel). He especially painted the high mountains; his works represent in particular the great peaks of the Chamonix Valley and Oisans but also the summits of the Swiss Alps. The Museum of Chamonix exhibits several of his works.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau