Louis Émile Dardoize (French, 1826-1901)
Hier

signed 'EMILE DARDOIZE' (lower left)
charcoal on paper
Unframed: 40 x 52.5 cm. (16 1/2 x 22 1/4 in.) Framed: 70 x 82 cm. (27 1/2 x 32 1/4 in.)

Private Collection, Douai, until 2025.

Exhibited:
Dieppe, Hôtel de Ville, Société des Amis des Arts de Dieppe, 1877, no. 3

Though little known today, Émile Dardoize enjoyed a long and successful career. He debuted at the Salon in 1845 at nineteen and exhibited there for fifty years, winning a prize in 1882. Internationally recognised, he earned bronze and gold medals at the Exposition Universelle and Exposition Universelle, and a further bronze at the Exposition Universelle.

Independent of any school, Dardoize was a devoted observer of nature who painted en plein air across France, favouring rustic landscapes such as woodlands, rivers, and ponds, especially in the Seine Valley and the Vaux-de-Cernay in the Chevreuse region.

Also an accomplished draftsman, he excelled in crayon on tinted paper, praised for its subtle tonal effects. The present charcoal drawing, Hier, shown in Dieppe in 1877, exemplifies his command of light and atmosphere. Depicting a looted village street with smouldering fire and scattered debris, its sombre mood likely alludes to the devastation of the Franco-Prussian War.