Etienne Adolphe Piot

Biography of Etienne Adolphe Piot ( 1850-1910 )

Etienne-Adolphe Piot was a French painter who studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris and attended Leon Cogniet's classes from 1870. Cogniet conveyed to his student his taste for "human shapes" and helped the artist throughout his career. Inspired by his master, Piot focused on depicting young women.

He mainly painted genre scenes and women portraits and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1880. In 1883, he became a Salon member and won an honourable mention a few years later in 1890. Piot met great success in the Parisian upper class and every young lady were ordering their portrait.

His portraits perfectly show the delicate and gentle nature of the 19^th century women. The artist used dark background in order to emphasize the youthful faces of his models and to celebrate the feminine grace. Whether showing a shy smile or a woman's shoulder, these portraits of young ladies convey unique emotions.