Georges Stein, born Séverin Louis Stein (Paris, 12 February 1864[1] - Geneva, 1917[2]), was a French Impressionist artist. Stein was a painter and draughtsman, and is known primarily for light-infused views of Paris and London. He also painted scenes from Melun, Vichy, Bern, Geneva, and Monte Carlo.[3]
Stein was born in Paris, the son of bookbinder Marc-Séverin and Barbe Kintziger.[1] By 1906, he was living in Montigny-sur-Loing.[4]
He was a member of the Société des artistes français, and exhibited at the Salon des artistes français from 1912 to 1914,[5][6][7] during which time he lived in Melun.[8][9][10]
Stein's works are marked by spontaneity, dynamism and movement, giving the viewer the feeling of participating in the scenes observed. Under the influence of Jean Béraud, he worked in particular on the treatment of light to translate the bustle of Parisian life.[12] He populated his paintings with elegant women in a hurry as they went about their daily business.[13]
In response to a commission in 1910 by Léon Roubot, director of the Élysée-Palace, Stein produced a set of four large canvases for the décor of a new casino in Vichy,[14] which depicted carriage rides, visits to the brasseries, the casino and the racetrack.[13]
Three paintings relating to the Jeanne d'Arc bridge (a.k.a. pont aux Fruits):[17]
Vue de la Seine depuis la promenade de Vaux, oil on canvas;
Le Pont aux Fruits le soir, oil on canvas (dedicated « À Monsieur Émile Gaulard, bien affectueusement. G. Stein » and signed « SEVER LUD GEORGES STEIN. MELUN »);
"En décembre, la Revue franco-suisse publie un article ému de notre collaborateur Henry Gauthier-Villars sur le peintre Georges Stein qui vient de mourir à Genève."
^"Stein, Georges." Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011.
^Archives départementales de Seine-et-Marne, reference 10M409, Census of Montigny-sur-Loing de 1906 : " Bout du Haut " Street, left side : Stein, Séverin, " artiste peintre ", born in 1864 in Paris, and his wife Dumouthier, Marie-Louise, born in 1873 in Bône (Algeria).
^Archives municipales de Melun, reference 1K32, Electoral roll of 1912, serial number 3237 : Stein Séverin Louis, 12 February 1864, painter, chemin de Bellevue 3. In 1912 Georges Stein was a neighbour of another Melun painter, Henri Frechon, who lived at 2 chemin de Bellevue.
^Archives municipales de Melun, reference 1K33, Electoral roll of 1913, serial number 3257 : Stein Séverin Louis, 12 February 1864, painter, chemin de Bellevue 3 puis route de Trois Moulins 17.
^Archives municipales de Melun, reference 1K34, Electoral roll of 1914, serial number 3425 : Stein Séverin Louis, 12 February 1864, painter, route de Trois Moulins 17.
^Benezit Dictionary of Artists: "French, 19th – 20th century, male.; Born c. 1870.; Painter (gouache), watercolourist, draughtsman. Genre scenes, landscapes, landscapes with figures, urban landscapes... Georges Stein painted oil or watercolour urban landscapes of cities such as London, Monte Carlo and especially typical Parisian scenes. He also produced numerous views of the flower markets at the Madeleine and the Île de la Cité", Oxford University Press 2006