Lebourg, Albert

(1849-1928)

   painter

   Albert Lebourg was born in Montfort-sur-Risle, Eure. After studying architecture, he taught drawing in Algiers, where he took up painting (1872). After 1875, he adopted in his works a free style using fresh colors and a light palette and brushstroke, while seeking to bring out the intensity of the Algerian sunlight. In 1877, he went to Paris and painted landscapes of the île-de-france and the normandy countryside. He began exhibiting in 1883 and, the following year, after a visit to Auvergne, painted numerous canvases (Pont-du-Château en automne and La Neige en Auvergne, 1886). From 1886 to 1895, he again painted in the Île-de-France (La Seine à Bougival, Le Bas-Meudon) and Normandy, and he also traveled to the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Great Britain, where he admired the work of Joseph Constable. After 1905, La Rochelle, Paris, and Rouen and its environs constituted his principal subjects. A most sensitive and spontaneous landscape artist, who could represent the qualities of light and location, Lebourg knew ALFRED SISLEY, CLAUDE MONET, and EDGAR DEGAS and admired all the impressionists without being part of their movement.