Maurice Boitel

Maurice Boitel

Maurice Boitel (born July 31, 1919 in Tillières-sur-Avre , Eure department ; † August 11, 2007 in Audresselles , Pas-de-Calais department ) was a French painter of the École de Paris , who mainly but not exclusively the landscape - and dedicated to portrait painting. He was a member of the committee of the Salons de la Société nationale des beaux-arts and the Salons Comparaisons .

Tributes

The city council of Paris gave its name to the walk that surrounds Lake Daumesnil and the city council of Audresselles on the outward journey that lines the English Channel .

biography

Maurice Boitel was born in Normandy , but lived for a long time in his youth in Gevrey-Chambertin and in Nuits-Saint-Georges in Burgundy .

He attended the Paris School of Fine Arts, Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts . The award of the Abd-el-Tif Prize in 1946 enabled him to live with his family in Algiers .

After his return to the French capital, the artist took part in various exhibitions in Paris, in particular the Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Salon Comparaisons , in which he later worked as a member of the committee. Maurice Boitel showed the works created in Algeria in an exhibition dedicated to him in 1949 at the Galerie de l'Elysée, where he presented his paintings in an annual exhibition from 1958 until the 1980s.

In the early 1950s he was commissioned to design the school complexes of Montreuil and Montgeron (frescoes and ceramics), which he carried out personally.

The Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Prize, awarded by the National Society for Fine Arts , enabled him to present a comprehensive overview of his works in the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1963 .

In 1966 he won the Francis Smith Prize, which included a stay in Portugal . In 1970 the Marine nationale invited him to stay on the aircraft carrier Clemenceau , an opportunity that Maurice Boitel used to paint several views of Oslo .

His closest painter friends include above all Pierre-Henry, Bernard Buffet , Antoni Pitxot, Jean Carzou , André Hambourg, Emilio Grau Sala and Paul Collomb.

Maurice Boitel died in Audresselles in 2007, shortly after the age of 88. It rests in the local cemetery of the Church of St. Jean-Baptiste.

Awards

• 1946: Abd-el-Tif Prize
• 1958: Antral Prize of the City of Paris for a view of Cadaqués
• 1963: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Prize from the National Society of Fine Arts
• 1966: Francis Smith Prize
• 1968: French artist gold medal; Sebastien Lepage Prize of the Académie des beaux-arts (Academy of Fine Arts)
• 1974: Grand Prize of the State Parliament of the Seine-et-Marne department
• 1980: Dumas Millier Prize from the Institut de France
• 1984: Roger Deverin Prize (watercolor) from the Taylor Fund
• 2003: Gold medal of the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux Arts (exhibition of the National Society of Fine Arts)

plant

Maurice Boitel mainly created landscape paintings. Motifs include France, Italy, Cadaqués (Spain), Peniche (Portugal) and Holland. The development of the painter inevitably continues throughout his life:

Until 1946, the year he got married, his painting is expressive, very down to earth; then, from 1946 to 1952, it is very colorful, especially the pictures in Algeria .

From 1952 to 1965 he painted very personal pictures: in his landscapes, which are very constructed, the objects are outlined with black contours with a few plastered aplats. During this period he first painted sober, dark pictures at Cap Griz Nez , which show the storms in this area, the fishing boats on the beach, the ruins of the war. He also paints people: clowns, poultry farmers, fishermen or portraits.

Then, from 1958 to 1965, he paints every summer in Cadaqués (Spain). It is always the same style with solid construction, but where the light and vivid colors of the Mediterranean appear (landscapes, sea paintings, portraits, crowds on the beach).

From 1965 on, his works remained structured, but he made the outlines disappear: he turned more to watercolor painting, especially in Nice , Rome, Venice and Florence. Every year he travels to Cap Gris Nez, Audresselles or the Limousin area, to Ambazac . The Paris area, where he usually lives, has also given him numerous motifs ( Montmartre , Vincennes forest , the islands of the Seine and Marne, Guermantes and Conches-sur-Gondoire ).

Since 1980 there has been a tendency to present an idealized reality.

Boitel's paintings were acquired by the French state and the city of Paris, as well as by enthusiasts in Germany, England, the United States, Brazil, Iran, Japan, Venezuela, Italy, Spain and Mexico. They can be seen in the museums of Dijon , Saint-Maur-des-Fossés , Sceaux and Valence , Algiers , Constantine and Bejaia and adorn the Paris City Hall and various French embassies.

Exhibitions

• 1949: Exhibition in the Galerie de l'Elysée (now Galerie René Drouet), in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré
• 1958 and the following years up to the 1980s: annual exhibition in the Galerie de l'Elysée
• 1965: Exhibition in the Makowsky Gallery, Frankfurt am Main
• 1976: Exhibition at the Museum of Boulogne-sur-Mer
• 1977: Exhibition at the Museum of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés
• 1980: Exhibition at Galeria Contini in Caracas ( Venezuela )
• 1982: Exhibition at the Montbard Museum
• 1990: Exhibition in three separate halls of the Grand Palais on the occasion of the Paris Salon d'Automne
• 1993: Exhibition at the Montreuil Museum
• 1999: Retrospective at the invitation of the President and the Board of Directors of the Salon des Indépendants (exhibition of the independents)

Maurice Boitel was also the guest of honor at several art exhibitions: Rosny-sous-Bois (1980), Blois (1980), Wimereux (1984), Villeneuve-le-Roi (1984), Yvetot (1986), Alfortville (1987), Bourges (1987) ), Saumur (1987), Metz (1991), Limoges (1992), Tours (1992).

Group exhibitions

Maurice Boitel has participated in various group exhibitions organized by the Paris salons in Hamburg , Moscow, New York, Saint Petersburg, Mexico, Abidjan, Tokyo and other cities. His last exhibition so far, "Majestic Maghreb ", was in Honfleur in April and May 2006 .

Web links

• Website Maurice Boitel