Léon Germain Pelouse was born on October 1, 1838, in Pierrelaye (Val d’oise, France), where he spent a great part of his childhood. At the age of 27, Pelouse left his job as a commercial traveler in order to devote himself to his vocation of painter. He officially began his carer of painter in 1865 at the “Salon de Paris”. He was awarded the second class medal in 1873 for “Le matin dans la vallée de Cernay”. In 1876, the jury awarded him the 1st class medal for “Une coupe de bois à Senlisse”. In 1878, he was awarded the Légion d’honeur and a second class medal from the Universal Exhibition. During this period, he painted in many places: in Ile de France (included Cernay-la-Ville and Senlisse), in Normandie, in Franche-Comté, in Auvergne, in Belgium, in Nederland, and in Italy. In 1889, he received a gold medal from the Universal Exhibition. Léon Germain Pelouse discovered Cernay-La-Ville (Yvelines, France) by an happy coincidence. Seduced by the surrounding nature, the cordial welcome of residents, he spent several years in this village. He married Lucy Fossey in 1874 and adopted her son, Lucien Raingo-Pelouse. They settled in Cernay-la-Ville. They left the village in 1884 to live in Paris at Poncelet Street. Pelouse always was a real and sincere lover of Cernay-la Ville and its vicinity, and he became one of its more famous representatives. Léon Germain Pelouse was a very skilful designer, strong colorist, and had extraoridnary brush dexterity and execution. He was the painter of brushwood, of underwood, of the light waves, skies and clouds. Beyond his art, he was the founder and the master of the “school of Cernay” Among his students were Joubert, Kitty, Kielland, Lemarié, des Landelles, Rambaud, Rigolot, and others. Pelouse, died July 31 1891, He was only 53 years old.
His work is represented in many French museums, (Amiens, Bordeaux, Brest, Carcassonne, Clermont-Ferrand, Concarneau, Dunkerke, Grenoble, La Rochelle, Le Havre, Montpellier Nantes, Paris, Pontoise, Reims, Rouen), as well as in museums around the world (Chicago, New-York, Montréal, Oslo, Sydney.) Source: leongermainpelouse.fr