Constantine (Algeria) 1893” 
Claude Firmin-Goy
Oil on canvas
12 1/4 x 16 1/2 (16 1/2 x 20 3/4 frame) inches
 
This bright and luminous work by the Avignon painter Claude Firmin-Goy represents a scene in the market of Constantine, Algeria. Firmin-Goy was able to perfectly capture the need for shade on a typically sun-drenched day in North Africa. 
 
“He attaches importance to the lighting and the atmosphere, which he restores with accuracy.”
Claude Firmin is described by critics as one of Avignon’s best landscape artists "with paintings of superior execution which ignore the violence of contrasts and are enveloped in a seductive harmony of color;" Claude Firmin is a painter with exceptional talent, “mainly by his quality of vision: qualities which require a natural feeling of light, perfected by extensive experience”.
 
A student of Pier Léon Bonnat and Paul Saïn, he appeared at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1889 to 1922 and at the Salon des Artistes Indépendents from 1906 to 1910 where he obtained numerous awards during and some paintings were purchased for State collections. 
Simultaneously, he participated in exhibitions in Avignon from 1882 to 1944, including that of the Group of Thirteen to which he belonged.

In 1922, he became a professor and then director from 1937 to 1941 of the School of Fine Arts in the City of Avignon and he was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1937.
 
Paintings by Claude Firmin-Goy can be found in numerous museum collections.