Eugène Vincent Vidal

Biography of Eugène Vincent Vidal ( 1850-1906 )

A painter of genre scenes and portraits, Eugene Vidal was born in Paris in 1850. He studied with J.L. Gérome at the Beaux-Arts Academy in Paris and exhibited at the Salon for the first time in 1873,  with  « Portrait de Madame Martin », a very successful charcoal portrait.
In 1876, he exhibited a « Portrait of Cardinal Lavigerie », and, in 1880, he joined the fifth Impressionnist Exhibition with several portraits including one of the famous female writer Georges Sand.
In 1881, he exhibited again with the Impressionnists, a work named « Au Café ». Meanwhile  he did keep  on sending his works regularly to the Salon until 1906, where he presented  «  A Young Girl » at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts.
In 1900, he was  awarded a Bronze Medal at the Universal Exhibition for his series of portraits and pastels.
By his variety of style , Eugene Vidal is an artist who feels as comfortable among the Academic Salon than within the Impressionnists Exhibitions. Some of his portraits(« Femme  au corset rose », « Jeune Fille au chapeau »), remind us of the work of Mary Cassatt. Like many artists of the time, Eugène Vidal did travel to Algeria, and he brought back many paintings of oriental daily life scenes and landscapes, « Marabouts discutant sur le chemin de Constantine », (Tours Museum), « Marabouts dans la Mosquée de Constantine », exhibited in the 1874 Salon, and « Rue de la Casbah à Alger », 1878 Salon.