Emile Pierre Branchard (American, 1881-1938). Untitled oil on board, ca. 1920s. Signed on the lower right. A wonderful painting of a chicken barn by American artist Emile Branchard. Seven of the chickens strut about and peck the ground - six rendered in hues of warm chestnut brown and one in white - while another chicken endearingly pokes its head out the barn door. The cool blue-grey skies and two leafless trees suggest that it is late autumn or wintertime. Branchard delineated the rural scene in his signature style with flat forms and a harmonious color palette. Some have compared his naive style to the Symbolists' and Precisionists' form of abstraction. A magnificent example of Branchard's oeuvre set in a custom frame. Size of painting: 11.5" L x 17.5" W (29.2 cm x 44.4 cm) Size of frame: 15.875" L x 22" W (40.3 cm x 55.9 cm)

Born to French parents in Greenwich Village, New York City, Emile Pierre Branchard had a rather modest childhood. His mother kept a boarding house in the Village that was known as the "house of genius" because many artists and writers frequented the establishment. Schooled by French nuns, Branchard's early exposure to art was watching his stepfather, who studied with Messioner, paint. Branchard worked as a stevedore and truck driver, and during World War I became a policeman for the Home Defense Force. When working for the Home Defense Force, he contracted tuberculosis. During this period, while confined at home, he began to paint, using the leftover paints and brushes of a former roomer in the boardinghouse. Branchard painted imaginary still lifes, landscapes from memory, and nudes. One of the roomers in the boardinghouse was so impressed with Branchard's work that he submitted two paintings to the Independents show of 1919. Stephen Bourgeois discovered Branchard's work there, and gave him a one-man show that same year. He would continue to show Branchard's art regularly until 1932. In 1938, Branchard exhibited at the Marie Harriman Gallery and was also included in the Museum of Modern Art's "Masters of Popular Painting" exhibition. Later that year he passed away in the same house where he had lived for fifty years.

Emile Pierre Branchard's untitled (winter) painting sold with a hammer price of $17,000 at David Rago - November 9, 2019 - lot 650. While a bit larger (25x18) the style and rural subject certainly resonate with this example.

Provenance: Private Boulder, Colorado, USA collection

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#170928

Signed by the artist on the lower right, the painting is excellent overall. Wooden components of the framing are stamped "MADE IN GERMANY" and there is tape on the verso. Frame shows normal age wear but is otherwise very nice and wired for suspension.