Coming in From the Fields
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Georges Laugée was born in Montivilliers on December 19, 1853.  His father, Désiré Laugée was an artist and George received his early training with him.  During the mid 1870 he was studying in the ateliers of Pils and Lehmann and exhibited his first work at the Paris Salon in 1877.  His first works to receive public acclaim were Le Portrait de M. Henri Martin, sénateur and Question for which he was awarded the bronze medal at the Salon of 1881.

Following his love of nature and the farm worker, Laugée began to focus on scenes of everyday life.  Works that were exhibited at the Salon included his 1903 submission Au mois d’aout, a l’ombre (In the Month of August, In the Shade), which features a standing woman quenching her thirst while rays of sunlight penetrate the shade. His 1904 works included Deux Amies and Au Temps des blés murs, which portrayed peasant girls in the country.  At the Salon of 1906 he exhibited Soleil Couchant (Sunset) and Heure doreé (Golden Hour) and continued to exhibit works of similar subject through 1910.

In 1889 he participated in the Exposition Universelle, where he received a Bronze medal and in the Exposition Universelle of 1900 where he was awarded the Silver medal for his painting entitled Au printemps de la vie (In the Springtime).  From 1907 – 1909 Laugée was a Membre du Comité de la Société des Artistes Français and was a member of the Jury at the Salon from 1908 – 1910.

Laugée’s atelier, located at 20, boulevard Flandrin, Paris, was also the home of the great realist artist Julien Dupré (Laugée’s brother-in-law).