RAOUL SABOURDIN (1906-1982) - Lot 199

RAOUL SABOURDIN (1906-1982) EXCEPTIONAL AND EXTREMELY RARE DECORATIVE CYCLE OF THE VALHUBERT THEATER, GARE D'AUSTERLITZ Midi Pyrénées, Albigeois Oil on canvas signed lower right. c. 1949 Height. 266 cm; Length. 197 cm. Repainted, restorations. This painting is part of an incredible ensemble of 12 works that were installed in the Valhubert theater, adjacent to the Gare d'Austerlitz. This theater room was reserved for the Compagnie dramatique de l'Equipe, the SNCF theater company created by railway worker Henri Dumay in the 1940s. Raoul SABOURDIN was a pupil of Othon FRIESZ, then attended the Grande chaumière in Montparnasse. A member of the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, he also exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the 1937 Exposition Internationale. Represented by Galerie Charpentier and Bernheim Jeune, he turned to mural decoration for the SNCF in the late 1940s, notably with this superb set depicting the different regions of France served by trains departing from the Gare d'Austerlitz.