François TREHIN, French school XIX-XXth century. Portrait of - Lot 170

François TREHIN, French school XIX-XXth century. Portrait of Henri Lorry (1863-1938), 1903. Portrait of Pierre Lorry (1826-1907), father of the above. Pair of medallions signed, dedicated and dated. Diameter: 29 cm. Born in Paris, Henri (Albert) Lorry came from a modest background. Starting out as a sales clerk, Lorry went on to become an engineer and manufacturer of electrical appliances. He filed patents, for example in November 1921 for light signal relays. His factory, located at 171, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine in Paris (11th district), employed around twenty people. A fire destroyed the factory in November 1922. It specialized in private telephony and networks, and also produced accessories for the TSF. In parallel with his professional career, Henri Lorry pursued an artistic activity. He was first and foremost a songwriter and lyricist, with songs such as "Dans ma Gondole!", a Neapolitan barcarolle set to music by Camille Robert. Henri Lorry was also the author of one-act plays, in verse or prose, in particular a bouffe comedy, Le Jeu de l'auto, performed in 1912 at the Éden-Concert in Paris. Five of his texts were reprinted in 1929 in a volume whose cover and bookplate were designed by his daughter-in-law, Renée Lorry-Wahl (L'Art et l'argent, Faisons des économies, Les Baliveau attendent leur filleul, Le Puits aux Boches, Paulot dit la Teigne). His main work is a collection of poetry, À temps perdu, published by Joseph Victorion in 1920 with a preface by Aristide Bruant. It was republished in 1930 with a cover by Renée Lorry-Wahl. Henri Lorry died on August 3, 1938 in Paris, and is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.