Biographies

Emile Friant (1863 – 1932) Emile Friant started his studies at the Nancy School of Fine Art, and exhibited his work at the local Salon at the age of fifteen. He continued his studies in Paris in the studio of the artist, , and at the age of twenty, won the second Rome Prize. A naturalist artist, Emile Friant mainly painted portraits and scenes from everyday life. The immediacy of his work was based on the use of photographs. After a very successful Universal Exhibition in 1889, where he was awarded the Gold Medal for his work “La Toussaint”, he was asked to paint the portraits of a number of personalities from Nancy and the USA. A review by G. R. S. Taylor in mentions in connection with virility in French art “Friant’s ghastly display of a graveside, which reeks of everything depressing.” The painting referred to is most likely the one called Doleur in our collection of images. Alexander Cabanel The New Age NA 3.14:277 He was a member of the Board of the Nancy School from 1901, and taught at the National School of Fine Art in 1906.