The White Horse and Little Donkey on the Basque Coast
René Maxime Choquet (French, 1872 to 1958)
Oil on canvas, original, period frame.
Circa 1900-1910
Signed lower left
René Maxime Choquet (1872-1958), the son of a wealthy olive oil producer, painted the Basque mountains and numerous scenes of rural life: animals (horses, mules, pottoks (a small and sturdy horse well-suited to their native Basque region and the harsh climate found there), equipment, and harness. A passionate horseman, he sculpted bronze horses cast by Thiébault. He also sculpted in plaster and wax.
A pupil of Jules Lefebvre, Tony Robert-Fleury, and Hermann-Léon, Choquet studied at the Beaux-Arts of Paris, then later at the Julian Academy. Between 1896 and 1939 he exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français and also at the Amis des Arts in Bordeaux between 1909 and 1927. Choquet received numerous awards and accolades. In 1919, he won the "Rosa-Bonheur Prize" award for outstanding animal paintings.
After marrying Albertine Buche for the first time in 1906 in Paris, he married Alice Arnould for the second time on 8 July 1925 in Bordeaux. It was at this time that Choquet discovered the Basque country.
In 1912, he settled permanently in Ciboure, where he began his conversion to local scenes, popular types, and disappearing professions, which he observed in the Basque landscapes and during his travels in France and Spain. In 1926, while exhibiting at the Salon des Amis des Arts in Bordeaux, Choquet held a private exhibition which was very aptly noted by art lovers. "La Petite Gironde", a daily newspaper, noted, "This is still the Basque Country, but seen by a local person and a personal artist, that is to say, very different from what we have seen before. This is the Basque Country in the intimacy of its daily life, with its characteristic carriages, types of muleteers and farmers, its horizons shrouded in violet mists, the tender gravity of its mountains. Choquet possesses the personality of this country in its lines, its forms, its accents. He translates its structure and soul with a sober and expressive assurance."
Soon after his relocation to the Basque region, Choquet became a member of the "Group of Nine" who stated the goals “to promote modern regionalist painting that exalts the landscapes, traditions, and customs of the country.”
The new style demonstrates a painter concerned with realism and vigor. Sensuality is expressed through a thick, heavy brushstroke, marked contours, almost bordering on the outline, an earthy taste for reality. Choquet plays on the contrast between the solidity of the terrain and its harsh rawness. Choquet develops a personal style, an expressionist realism. With a firm and emphatic drawing, Choquet emphasizes the features of the character and the animals. Through figures and landscapes, he paints a stark and dramatic image of the Basque Coast.
Works of art by René Maxime Choquet can be found in several museums throughout France.