Pierre Vaillant (1878 - 1939)

Pierre Vaillant was the son of an architect from the Eure et Loire region. He spent his early years in Chartres and then entered the Beaux-Arts in Paris in the workshop of Gérôme and Baschet. On leaving school, he discovered Brittany where he met Charles Cottet, whose friend and disciple he became. He often stayed in Brittany near Camaret. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes français from 1905 to 1913.  The war of 1914 made him go to the front, where he would later produce etching studies acquired by the Musée des Armées. In the 1920s, he was named a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and in 1930 a member.  From 1923 to 1928, he decorated the Hôtel des Postes in Chartres. In his Montparnasse studio, Pierre Vaillant produced a series of portraits and nudes that were noticed by the critics. One of them earned him the Prix Cottet in 1930. That same year, he was appointed professor at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, replacing Lucien Simon. He also exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and the Tuileries. He was named Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1937, and in the same year received the highest award at the International Exhibition for one of his paintings. This artist is among others in the Musée du Luxembourg, the Musée d'art Moderne and the Musée de Quimper. The contents of his studio were dispersed in 1973 at Drouot.