Jean GEOFFROY dit GEO (Marennes 1853 - Paris 1924) - Lot 34

Jean GEOFFROY dit GEO (Marennes 1853 - Paris 1924) Portrait of a young boy, 1883 Gouache on paper, signed and dated lower right H_30 ; W_23 cm This is probably a study for the portrait of the child seated in the foreground of Les Infortunés (1883), shown at the Société des Artistes français exhibition that same year and now in the Musée d'Orsay. The Salon jury, moved by this depiction of two abandoned children waiting at the charity office, decreed its acquisition by the State. Géo was able to depict a childhood abandoned in the big cities, far from the tender imagery of school outings and family happiness. Bibliography : Dominique LOBSTEIN, Jean Geoffroy dit Géo 1853-1924, Une œuvre de généreuse humanité, Éditions du Croit Vif, Saintes, 2015, p. 46