Alt has the distinction of being the first American artist to be invited to participate in “Le Salon 93" Sociéty des Artistes Francais Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées-Paris, thereby shattering a tradition excluding non-French participation which had held since Louis XIV. Through the years, Alt’s style of painting has gone through a transition – as he explains, his palette has become lighter and he has become interested in the vibrations in the light areas of the painting and the burst of color activity within a dark area.
Duane Alt came upon his fascination with and ultimate mastery of Impressionism in a somewhat indirect way. He was born in a small town in Nebraska in 1935 and raised in Southern California. From a very young age he felt a compulsive drive to paint, and during his high school years, he worked after school mixing paints for the scenery painters at the Hollywood film studios.
While still a teenager, he began his formal art studies at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and in the 1960s, he studied art at the Sorbonne and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. It was there that the heritage of the Impressionists captured his heart and influenced his personal style.
Alt furthered his studies in Germany and Italy; however, it was France, its villages of the Barbizon, the hills of Provence and the Mediterranean that mostly influenced his work. The dazzling sunshine and light, fields of flowers and lush vegetation have been the inspiration of his work, and from that time on, Alt adopted a French vision in the tradition of the great Impressionists of the late 19th and 20th centuries, such as Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Paul Signac, and Camille Pissarro. Although these greats influenced Alt, his paintings are derivative of none of them. His work is altogether contemporary, carrying on the great Impressionistic tradition with his own unique style and mastery, offering a universal appeal.
Even during his 25-year career in the film industry as an art director and production designer with Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Productions, and his personal affiliations with motion picture producer/directors George Stevens and Stanley Kramer, painting remained a very personal passion for Alt. In the 30 years since, Alt established himself in the forefront of American painters and his work is hanging in many collections worldwide, corporate and private.
Alt has the distinction of being the first American artist to be invited to participate in “Le Salon 93″ Sociéty des Artistes Francais Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées-Paris, thereby shattering a tradition excluding non-French participation which had held since Louis XIV. Through the years, Alt’s style of painting has gone through a transition – as he explains, his palette is lighter and he has become interested in the vibrations in the light areas of the painting and the burst of color activity within a dark area.
