Manuel Robbe(French, 1872-1936)L artiste au Chevalet, (The Artist at his easel), circa 1900pastel on wove papersigned with initials MR lower left12 3/4 x 9 3/4in (32.5 x 25cm) Provenance: Personal collection of Manuel Robbe.With Galerie Michael, Beverly Hills, California.Footnote: Robbes quiet image of the artist (self-portrait ?) working at his easel. Robbe studied painting at the Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He learned printmaking early on, exhibited at the Salons and won a metal at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900. Following the productive years of his youth, Robbe served as a pilot in the First World War. Afterwards, as happened to so many after the experience of war, he lost much of his creative impulse.