Adrien Henri Tanoux (1865-1923)


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A painter of genre scenes, nudes, portraits and orientalist scenes, Adrien Tanoux was born  in  Marseille on October 18, 1865.  He studied at the  Fine Arts Academy in Paris where he was a pupil of Leon Bonnat and exhibited regularly his works at the Salon of  the French Artists in Paris.  He was awarded several times and received a Honorable mention at the Universal Exhibition in 1889, a third class medal  in 1894 and a second medal in 1895.
This same year he was awarded a scholarship to travel .
Back to Paris, he exhibited some new works at the Salon : « La leçon de couture » (learning sewing), and « La lettre », (the letter), 1908, two intimate genre scenes set in the countryside and depicting the simple life of women in their house.

The following years , he  will show a drastic change in his choice of subjects : « Après le Bain » 1912,  « Fleur du Mal »1913,  or « Parfums troublants » in 1914,  are  forecasting a new style where he depicts sensual and voluptuous females  with a very light and manierist brushstroke, using soft and subtle palette tones and playing skillfully with the shades.
In 1888, he is commissioned to decorate the Wedding Room of the 14th’s Townhouse in Paris with « La Noce », and, in 1905 he receives a second commission for the Music Room in the tenth arrondissement  and  presents  « Theatres ».
In 1905 he becomes a member of the French Artists Society.

He died in Paris in 1923. A few years later,  in 1927,  his sister made a donation to the Fine Arts Museum in Nice , « Thais »,  a substancial work,  (215 cm x 235 cm), on a theme inspired by the novel of the French writer Anatole France.