Gabriel Spat (1890-1967) French American, Oil on Board "Longchamp in Paris". Titled "Longchamp in Paris". Impressionist social scene of elegantly dressed figures at Longchamp in Paris, a famous venue known for its horse races and gatherings of the fashionable elite. Signed near the lower right. Information on the back of the piece. 

The collection comes from the Estate of Don Huber, a North Shore Long Island Community of Glen Head, New York. 

Overall Size: 12 3/4 x 20 1/4 in. 

Sight Size: 8 x 15 1/2 in. 

#9487

Gabriel (Gabrille) Spat was born in  Kishinev, Russia, now Chisinau, Moldova in 1890as Salomon Patlagean. He was active in France from 1919 to 1942 and in the United States from 1942. Spat studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Geneva, as well as in Paris, at the Colarossi Academy and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. After the First World War, he lived in Paris where he frequented Soutine and Modigliani. Spat has spent most of his career in France painting small figurative works in oil and watercolour and leisure scenes in places such as racecourses, parks and beaches. As a student, he was so poor that he was forced to paint on the remains of canvas given to him by other artists. As a result, he learned to paint in miniature, and continued to work on a small scale throughout his career. Spat fled to the south of France in 1940, during the German occupation of Paris, but returned two years later. His watercolours reflect the darker mood of the time. In 1943, Spat managed to escape, and in 1945 he arrived in the United States, where he settled in New York and married. The following year, the Carroll Carstairs Gallery in New York held an exhibition of Spat's watercolours; several other exhibitions followed in the United States and in Paris.