| 547. Alexis Comperet (also Compera) (American, 1856-1906), “Spring Landscape”, c.1890; oil/canvas, 21" x 19", signed, original frame. Important Denver painter. Comparet (who also spelled his name Compera, and is sometimes listed as that) was born in South Bend, IN, but moved to Colorado City as a boy. Around 1874, he traveled to Paris, to study with Benjamin Constant. He also studied with early Colorado painter, Harvey Young. He painted for a brief time in New Mexico in 1879, and executed several works of the Grand Canyon, painted in a similar style to Dawson-Watson. He returned to Denver in 1880s, and taught at the short-lived Colorado Academy of Design with Adams, Deakin, and Howland for three years. He painted primarily landscapes in a tonalist aesthetic, and he was patronized by Sarah Bernhardt, who was introduced to him while her troupe was performing in Denver. Comparet moved to San Diego in 1906, and died the same year. REF: Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting, 115-117; illus. p.116. 3000-5000 |
