Augustin
CARRERA

Augustin Carrera was born in Madrid, Spain in 1878 but his parents were both French. Gifted at drawing from his youth, he is enrolled in art schools. He first study with Alphonse Moutte in Marseilles and then with Léon Bonnat at Beaux-Arts School in Paris and obtained a scholarship from the city. 
After his marriage, Augustin Carrera is in a precarious period and has to earn a hard living. 

He visits galleries and museums to see the works of Cézanne, Gauguin or Seurat. But he is mostly influenced by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Monet and Pissaro. His work pays a special tribute to landscapes. 

In 1912, he win another scholarship : “Bourse d'Indochine” and leaves for Asia where he paints and teach during 8 months.  He represents temples,Red River banks and scenes of local life. The King of Cambodia then entrusted him with the creation of monumental panels for his palace, which the artist would put up on his next trip in 1928.

In 1914, when the war breaks out, Augustin Carrera is mobilized. When he is back, he visits Spain and has a revelation seeing Le Greco and Velasquez works. He sets up in Montparnasse. The politician Albert Sarraut buys his work and supports him. 

Carrera shows his work at Galerie Druet, Galerie Georges Petit, Salon des Tuileries, Salon des Artistes français, Salon des Indépendants, Musée des Arts Décoratifs… he won a gold medal at International Fair in 1937. He is also supported by the art critic François Thiébault-Sisson who often writes about him in the journal “Le Temps”. 

In 1924, he will be entrusted for creating painted panels for “l'Opéra de Marseille”. Very closed from other provençal painters, he invites Hurard, Eichacker, De Groux, Audibert and Verdilhan to create this decoration with him. 

Carrera was crowned “Chevalier of the Legion of Honor” in 1920 and officer in 1928. If Augustin Carrera's talent is displayed in the landscapes he creates within the framework of monumental decorations and his official orders, the uniqueness of his art is revealed in the female nude. The painter diligently studies the anatomical detail, which he carefully transcribes onto the canvas while giving particular importance to light and the harmony of tones. Carrera's nudes are reminiscent of the sensuality and eroticism of sculpture. Their modeling is revealed by the light, sculpted by the gray color of the flesh and the paste, the fullness of which attracts and holds the eye. 

Antoine Bourdelle will say about him “Carrera has found a way in his painting to combine the boldness of the colors and the exquisite finesse of the atmosphere. Marseillais you have a great painter! Take care of it!”