Coeur d'Alene Art Auction - July 2021

– 244 – 304 Leon Gaspard (1882–1964) Argonne Forest (1920) oil on canvas laid on board 32 × 36 inches signed lower left: Leon Gaspard 1920 In their Gaspard biography, Forrest Fenn and Carleen Milburn wrote, “WhenWorldWar I broke out in 1914, Gaspard enlisted in the Second Escadrille de Lyon of the French Aviation Corps. He was assigned to the forces aligned with Russia against the German Empire. As an aerial observer, he flew behind the lines to chart enemy positions. Flying was new to the world. It had been only ten years since the Wright brothers’ first successful flight, yet the World War I pilots flew with confidence in their air machines. With open cockpits and few instruments, they flew by the seat of their pants. “When Gaspard wasn’t flying, he made oil sketches depicting the ravages of war - prisoners slogging through snowy streets, soldiers marching along muddy roads with guns at the ready, and peasants working in the fields. His scenes were not gruesome and bloody, as were many war paintings executed at that time. Instead they showed the bravery and camaraderie of the troops and the citizenry who stoically continued working their farms.” PROVENANCE Denver Art Gallery, Denver, Colorado, 1968 The Estate of Jack & Cally Vickers, Castle Pines, Colorado $150,000–250,000