A beautiful pastel of the (French? Italian?) countryside by a member of a group of artists who advocated against abstraction in the early to mid-20th century; he worked in a clearly post-Impressionist style. Lived and worked in New Orleans. Picture is matted, with a layer of glassine over the pastel for protection. From the archives of AskArt: A painter and teacher, Louis Raynaud was born in New Orleans and was a resident there and in Chicago where he was active in the Society for Sanity in Art. He was also a member of the New Orleans Art Association, the Southern States Art League, and the New Orleans Arts and Crafts Club. Exhibition venues included the Society of Independent Artists, the New Orleans Art Association and the New Orleans Art League. Raynaud was a WPA artist for the Federal Art Program and did post office murals in St. Louis, Missouri and Abbeville, Louisiana.