Focus on Matin à Villeneuve and explain the Naturalism.
A trace of Biva's meticulous and rigorous professors at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris—Léon Tanzi (1846-1913), an esteemed Realist painter and Alexandre Nozal (1852-1929) a respected landscape artist—can be contemplated in Biva's work.
Janet Whitmore writes of Henri Biva's work, something that could apply to many of his paintings:"Like the naturalist painters such as Jules Bastien-Lepage or Rosa Bonheur", writes Janet Whitmore, "there is a strong tactile quality to Biva’s work, focused on the shapes, colors and forms of the small plants beside the stream or the smooth grey surface of the tree trunks". Equally important, she writes, "this type of landscape painting offered an intimate glimpse of a specific locale, a reminder of days spent in the French countryside, or perhaps at the immense forest preserves surrounding Paris. Unlike contemporaries such as Pissarro or Monet, Biva’s landscapes suggest a time before industrialization when no railroad or factory disrupted rural vistas. Rather, these images show no evidence of human activity at all except for the occasional fisherman drowsing by the riverside. (Janet Whitmore, Ph.D.)
Realist École des Beaux-Arts Henri Biva Monet Pissarro Jules Bastien-Lepage Rosa Bonheur