Ref.13600
Edmond Anne Antoine TAPISSIER « Les sirènes » Salon of 1896

This large painting was made by the painter Edmond Tapissier between 1893 et 1896. The artist depicts here a scene on a bank where three naked young women watch a boat far away. The composition is astonishing as the whole balance of the painting, which was tipping to the left, is re-established by the monkey and the parrot. The harmony of the colors is brought by the strength of the peacock and the parrot. Also, the pine branch which is going down the sea breaks the monotony of a too important stretch of water.Edmond is the second son of the silk merchant Antoine Tapissier and Benoite-Angélique Towex-Comte. Antoine Tapissier who stayed widower put his sons in the Collège des Chartreux in Lyon. In 1879, Edmond was 18 years old, he’s an elegant and cultured young man who is seeking for his path. He starts by following classes with the painter Chatigny who was the student of Picot and Chenavard. Chatigny knew Ingres, and was friend with Henner, Bertrand, Courbet and Manet. 1882 was the year of the drawing from nature learning and the first mural decorations. The following year he leaves for Paris and dedicates himself to the copies of the Italian and Flemish old masters. From 1883, the newspaper started to speak about him and recognize that “there is hope”. During the Autumn 1887, he integrated the Ecole des Beaux Arts and entered Cabanel and Cormon’s workshops. Tapissier made his first exhibition in the Salon in the same year. It’s in the period of the portraits tainted with symbolism that he’s making his debuts. He’s received by Puvis de Chavanne to the Society des Artistes Français in 1891. In the same year he decorated the chapel in Saint Étienne and composed there three large scenes of 3 meters, giving him appetite and knowledge for the large compositions.