Roland Marie Gérardin

1907-1935

Roland Marie Gérardin was born in Paris in 1907. He was a student at l’École des Arts Décoratifs, and studied with Jean-Paul Laurens at l’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Gérardin exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from the time he was 20 years old; he received the Prix Duffer in 1927, the Prix Collin, and the Prix Stillman. He won the Prix Mangin in 1930. In 1930 he won the second Prix de Rome, in 1931 he won a silver medal at the Salon des Artistes Français. In 1933 he won the Grand Prix de Rome. While staying at the Villa Médici in Rome he died at the age of 28 years. 

In his short, but extraordinarily successful career Gérardin produced many substantial paintings, many of them allegorical or biblical subjects. He also painted works that depicted the life style and environment of the Paris nightclub scene.

Paintings he exhibited at the Salons of 1933-1935 were scenes of groups relaxing by a lake or river. The painting in the Salon of 1933 called “Jeunes Filles au Bord de l’eau” is noteworthy because it is a group of young women, one completely nude, one undressing while the two others relaxing close by, a correlation can be drawn between this painting and Manet’s controversial painting “Dejuner sur l’herbe” painted in 1863, this works depicts an artist with friends and his nude model in the woods, it was rejected by the Salon and exhibited at the Salon des Refusés, how times had changed, but Gérardin still was able push the limits artistic freedom.