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Pierre Adolphe Valette
was a French Impressionist painter who is most famous
for his stunning Impressionist paintings of Manchester
City in London. He is also well known for being the
teacher and mentor of the world renowned British
painter, L.S. Lowry.
Very little is known about his early life, apart from
the fact that he was born in St. Etienne, and that his
family was very poor. It is also known that he first
studied in the local art school in St. Etienne. He then
moved to Lyon where he worked as a painter and an
engraver, while continuing his art studies. He was a
great traveller, and in 1903, he won a scholarship which
took him to England, where he enrolled at the Birbeck
Institute in London. For reasons which are unknown, he
then moved to Manchester. He enrolled in evening classes
at the Manchester Municipal School of Art. In 1905, he
also began designing greeting cards and calendars for a
Manchester printing company. In 1906, he was asked to
join the staff of the Manchester Municipal School of
Art. It is said that his unique and original teaching
style completely changed the School of Art in
Manchester.
It was while Valette was in Manchester, that he produced
stunning Impressionist scenes of the city, including its
bustling streets and scenes of its sombre canals in the
winter. Manchester, with its rain and fog was a perfect
subject for an Impressionist painter, as Impressionism
was of course very concerned with atmospheric changes.
Valette's student L. S. Lowry greatly admired him, and
Valette taught him new techniques, and showed him the
potential of the urban landscape as a subject.
Valette exhibited regularly in Manchester, as well as at
the Society of Modern Painters in Liverpool. In 1928,
Valette returned to live in France, and spent much of
the later part of his life producing landscapes of
France. As a member of the Impressionist group,
paintings by Valette are highly collectable. |
