Albert Decaris was a well-known graphic artist who also designed numerous French stamps. He also worked as an engraver and painter and was one of the first illustrators of luxury art books. His motifs were landscapes, portraits, allegories, and scenes from mythology and winegrowing. Like Lucien Fontanarosa, Decaris attended the Estienne vocational school and subsequently the State School of Fine Arts in Paris. In 1919 he was awarded the Prix de Rome for an etching. He was later appointed Knight of the Legion of Honor.
He won the gold medal at the London Games 1948 for his etching La piscine, which was probably created around 1930. The model for the depicted “Swimming Pool” is said to have been the Piscine Molitor in Auteuil, which opened in 1929. The sheet measures 107 x 75 cm, the etching itself 94 x 64 cm. It has often been criticized because the image seems quite somber rather than glorifying the sport.
France