Signed Post-Impressionist Oil Painting, Landscape with Trees by Henri Stenn (1903-1993), Mid-Century French Forest Scene on Panel

Light Through the Forest Canopy

The view looks down a path or clearing between tall, slender trees, their trunks pale against the darker undergrowth. Stenn built the canopy in layers of green, from deep olive at the edges to a warm yellow-green where the light breaks through at center. There is a small figure, barely more than a red accent, on the path near the middle ground. The paint is thick in places, especially in the sky patches visible through the branches, where white and blue are dragged over the green in quick, confident strokes. The overall feel is of dappled light in a French wood, probably autumn given the range of greens tending toward gold.

About the Artist

Henri Stenn (1903-1993) was a French painter who worked across the mid-20th century, producing landscapes and forest scenes in a post-impressionist manner. He exhibited in regional salons in France and built a following among collectors of French landscape painting. His work is characterized by a direct, vigorous approach to paint handling and a consistent interest in the effects of light through foliage. Stenn's career spanned the post-war decades when many French painters continued the landscape tradition established by the impressionists and post-impressionists of the previous century.