Pierre Adolphe Valette (1876 – 1942) was a French Impressionist painter. His most acclaimed paintings are urban landscapes of Manchester, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery. Today, he is chiefly remembered as the painter L. S. Lowry’s tutor.
Born in St Etienne in 1876, he trained at the Ecole Municipale de Beaux-Arts et des Arts Decoratifs in Bordeaux. He arrived in England for unknown reasons in 1904 and studied at the Birbeck Institute, now part of the University of London. In 1905 he travelled to the North West of England where he designed greetings cards and calendars for a Manchester printing company. He attended evening classes at Manchester Municipal School of Art and in 1907 he was invited to join the staff as a teacher. His French teaching style, painting by demonstration, was new to the United Kingdom.
Lowry expressed great admiration for Valette, who taught him new techniques and showed him the potential of the urban landscape as a subject. He called him "a real teacher … a dedicated teacher". Lowry added: "I cannot over-estimate the effect on me of the coming into this drab city of Adolphe Valette, full of French impressionists, aware of everything that was going on in Paris."
In 1920 Valette resigned from the Institute owing to ill health. He stayed in Lancashire for eight more years, teaching privately and painting in Manchester and Bolton. In 1928 he returned to Paris, and subsequently moved to Blacé en Beaujolais where he died in 1942.
Valette's paintings are Impressionist, a style that suited the damp fogginess of Manchester. Manchester Art Gallery has a room devoted to him, where the viewer may compare some of his paintings with some of Lowry's, and judge to what extent Lowry's own style was influenced by him and by French Impressionism generally.
Biographical notes adapted from Wikipedia
This is part 1 of a 2-part post on the works of Adolphe Valette:
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1908 Manchester Ship Canal and Warehouses |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1908 Manchester Ship Canal |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1909 Windsor Bridge on the Irwell oil on jute 50.4 x 61.1 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1909-11 Study of a 'Cab at All Saints' oil on board 21.9 x 28.8 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1911 Old Cab at All Saints, Manchester oil on jute 115.5 x 155.3 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910 Albert Square, Manchester oil on jute 152 x 114 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| 1901c Study for "Albert Square" oil on board 26 x 16.5 cm |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910c Study for "Albert Square" oil on board 14.5 x 23 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910c Study for "Albert Square'" oil on board 31.6 x 24 cm approx Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910c Study for "Albert Square" oil on cardboard 12 x 15.5 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910c Study for Base of Statues, "Albert Square" oil on board 8 x 15 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910 Hansom Cab at All Saints oil on jute 115.5 x 155.3 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910 Oxford Road, Manchester oil on canvas 127.4 x 101.5 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1910-11 Central Station oil on panel Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1912 Annie Barnett oil on board 39.5 x 46.9 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1912 Bailey Bridge, Manchester oil on jute 155 x 115 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1912 Castlegate, Salford oil on canvas Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1912 India House, Manchester oil on jute 142.4 x 86.1 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1912 Still Life, Fruit oil on canvas 44 x 75 cm Stockport Heritage Services, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1912 Under Windsor Bridge on the Irwell, Manchester oil on jute 48.2 x 61 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1912c Self Portrait Study oil on canvas mounted on board 60.8 x 48 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1913 York Street Leading to Charles Street, Manchester oil on linen 81.3 x 60 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1916 Romiley oil on board 13.5 x 15 cm University of Salford, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1916 Still Life oil on canvas 49 x 64 cm Salford Museum and Art Gallery, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1917 Flowers and Fruit oil on canvas 49.8 x 58.8 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1917c Self Portrait oil on linen 45 x 60.4 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1918 May Aimee Smith oil on panel 55.5 x 38.1 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1919 John Henry Reynolds oil on canvas 81.7 x 56.2 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1920-42 Le Puy oil on canvas 14.6 x 23 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1922 Figures by a Fence oil on board 15 x 23 cm University of Salford, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette 1925 Rowley Smart oil on panel 66.3 x 55 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
Note: I do not have dates for the following works:
 |
| Adolphe Valette Beach at Llandulas, North Wales oil on board 12.7 x 17.8 cm |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Buildings and Canal, Dusk oil on board 16.6 x 24.1 cm |
 |
| Adolphe Valette E. H. Mooney oil on canvas 40.4 x 32.8 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Farm at Blace |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Girl at her Toilet oil on millboard 40.1 x 32.3 cm Manchester City Galleries, UK |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Llandudno |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Manchester Ship Canal |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Manchester Street in Fog |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Manchester Suburban View |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Peasants Going Home |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Portrait of Ahmed Loufti |
 |
| Adolphe Valette Vineyard Worker |
