Desvallières

George Desvallières, pseudonym of Olivier Gabriel Victor Georges Lefèbvre-Desvallières, was born in Paris on March 14, 1861, into a cultured family, grandson of the academicians Ernest and Gabriel-Marie Legouvé. Raised with religious sentiment, he benefited from the artistic education of the painter Élie Delaunay, a family friend, who introduced him to Gustave Moreau. He studied at the Académie Julian and in the studios of Tony Robert-Fleury and Jules Valadon at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. An independent painter curious about all forms of art, he was involved in founding the Salon d’Automne in 1903, defending the Fauvist and Cubist avant-gardes against critics. During World War I, he commanded the 6th Territorial Battalion of Alpine Chasseurs in the Vosges and lost his son Daniel in 1915. In 1919, marked by this ordeal, he founded with Maurice Denis the Ateliers d’Art Sacré (Sacred Art Workshops) aimed at renovating religious art according to the model of medieval guilds. Commander of the Legion of Honor, he succeeded Georges Rouault as curator of the Musée Gustave Moreau in 1929 and entered the Institut de France in 1930. He died in Paris on October 5, 1950.

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