Paul Welsch

Paul Welsch (born July 26, 1889 in Strasbourg , † June 16, 1954 in Paris ) was a French visual artist.

biography

Paul Welsch saw the light of day in Strasbourg on July 26, 1889. There he began his university studies, which he finished in Hanover. His sketchbooks (1907–1908) already showed his mastery of drawing at this time. A law degree in Strasbourg and then a degree in political science in Paris (1909-1911) followed. At that time he became a student of Émile Schneider (1873–1947) in Strasbourg , at whose side he exhibited his first works. From 1911 he learned painting from Maurice Denis in Paris. This artist convinced him to devote his life to the fine arts. Welsch improved his drawing and engraving technique with Bernard Naudin (1876-1946). Until 1914 he studied at the " Académie Ranson " with Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier . During these years he exhibited a series of very realistic copperplate engravings , especially at the Société des Artistes Français (Society of French Artists) in May 1913 .

The First World War led to a brief interruption of the beginning career: drafted into the German army, Welsch was injured on the Russian front and relocated back home in December 1914. The paintings, created between 1914 and 1919, are characterized by dense and nervous features in lively colors ( Place Kléber pavoisée pour l'armistice ; Kléberplatz, flagged for the armistice [1918], Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg ).

In 1919 he worked with other Alsatian painters - Jacques Gachot (1885–1954), Balthasar Haug (1890–1965), Edouard Hirth (1885–1980), Martin Hubrecht (1892–1965), Luc Hueber (1888–1974), Louis-Philippe Kamm (1882–1959) and Lisa Krugell (1893–1977) - the “ Groupe de Mai ” ( May group ) influenced by the works of Paul Cézanne . Until 1934 the Groupe de Mai exhibited in Paris (at Bernheim-Jeune in February 1921) and in Strasbourg (usually in the Maison d'Art Alsacienne ; House of Alsatian Art , 6 rue Brûlée). Paul Welsch "rebuilt nature like an architect by submitting forms, light and colors to a strict discipline with great refinement". He remained true to one of the commandments of the master of the Aachen altar : to make Poussin according to nature (Robert Heitz, Saisons d'Alsace n ° 47, 1973). After the war, Welsch settled in Paris.

In 1920 Welsch illustrated his first book, "Les bourgeois de Witzheim" ( The Citizens of Witzheim ) by André Maurois . The style of these illustrations is reminiscent of the works of Jean-Jacques Waltz, who became known under the stage name " Hansi ". In the same year Welsch stayed for eight months in Tunisia , which he depicts in a sober, serious and light-filled painting, far removed from any “bazaar orientalism”. He will exhibit the fruit of this work in the Bernheim-Jeune gallery (Paris, February 1921).

In 1921 he first visited Saint-Tropez , where he returned regularly. His painting is not insensitive to the trends of this time and influenced by Marquet , Derain or Matisse . “Welsch seeks [in his work Le palmier ; The palm tree ] less an emotion than the impeccable architecture of the painting, the contrast of the forms [...] that brought him closer to Cubism at this point in his career ”(Robert Heitz: Painting in Alsace). In works such as Paysage au bord du Loup ( Landscape on the banks of the Loup River , 1922), Paysage à Florence ( Landscape in Florence , 1922), Paysage à La Gaude ( Landscape in La Gaude , 1923) and Citadelle à Corte ( Citadel in Corte , 1925) he explored the landscapes of the south. A trip to Italy allowed him to deepen his knowledge of the Renaissance painters , especially Masaccio . In 1922 he joined the Paris “ Salon d'Automne ” (Paris Autumn Salon), took part in the 33rd “ Salon des Indépendants ” (Salon of Independent Artists) and in 1923 at the “ Salon des Tuileries ”. In the same year the second book he illustrated was published: “ Assenet und Amis et Amiles ” (two old French heroic poems), seven original wood engravings in geometrical lines with a connection to glass painting .

Welsch gradually abandoned this stressed geometry in his paintings from 1924 and turned to a more sober style. This is characterized by a limitation of the color palette (blue, brown, green) and by simplified, but softer shapes. At the Salon des Indépendants of 1925 one could discover his work Vendanges à Capri ( grape harvest in Capri ), "very simple and noble in the lines [...] with this at first sight confusing art of reproducing the strong light through halftones" (Raymond Régamey). In 1925 the artist made two panels for the “Alsatian Pavilion” for the “ Exhibition of Decorative Arts ” in Paris: L'Eau ( The Water ) and La Terre ( The Earth ) (MAMC, Strasbourg). In addition to the landscapes of southern France, he devoted himself to the muted colors of Alsace and the city of Paris, without neglecting still lifes or nudes , in which he particularly distinguished himself. The touching bleakness of this painting culminates in the paintings of the southwestern French province of Quercy ( Route à Puylaroque ; road in Puylaroque , 1927) with “heavy landscapes under a leaden sky, empty, troubled, slowly appearing” (MK). Thanks to a perfect mastery of the glaze, the lively colors seep to the surface rather than appear obvious. In the portraits ( Femme au gilet rouge ; Woman with a Red Vest , 1929, MAMC, Strasbourg) - of women with often sad facial expressions - the painter surpasses himself through the suppleness of the lines and the art of color correspondence.

In the course of the 1930s, Paul Welsch consolidated his style, a very characteristic poetic realism, characterized by a “dense, human perfection that despises all language power” (Maurice Betz: catalog of the 1931 exhibition in the Berthe Weill gallery ). His political education undoubtedly gave him the necessary prerequisites to implement the great events of his time creatively. Examples of this are the wall decorations for the "Semaine Coloniale" ("Colonial Week ") from May / June 1932, illustrations for the books by Armand Megglé , which refer to French West Africa , French Equatorial Africa and Syria (1931) or La vie aux champs ( The country life ), a work exhibited in the antechamber of the Alsatian pavilion during the 1937 International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques . In the latter you will find people and earth thematized, which are at the center of Welsch's entire career.

After several stays in Obernai in Alsace (1935-1939) Welsch was deployed to the Lorraine front as a cavalry captain, where he distinguished himself in June 1940 for his bravery in combat. Between 1940 and 1941 he was interned as a prisoner of war in officers' camps XVII in Edelbach and Va in Weinsberg . From there he will bring back numerous drawings and watercolors that will be exhibited in Paris. During this period he signed his works with "Velche". He spent the rest of the war mainly in Génis in the Dordogne department . The oil paintings he paints there endlessly reproduce the palette of green tones that are among the colors he favored.

After the war he will “with his restrained passion, this reserved zeal that is so peculiar to him, take up his artistic profession again, and no doubt he will express himself even better in these last ten years than before, his calm and profound work will revive a silence, enriched with a security that will not be weakened until the end. ”(Bersier, Paul Welsch). The last works - painted in Paris, Saint-Tropez or Malaucène in the French department of Vaucluse - hardly differ from those of the 1930s, but are characterized by a broader palette of warm colors. During this time, Welsch also made numerous lithographs , mostly in black and white, but also colored ( Le rendez-vous des chasseurs ; The meeting of the hunters , Salon d'Automne in Paris 1949) and realized the illustrations for four books: Petits poèmes en prose ( Little Poems in Prose ) by Baudelaire (1947) apparently unpublished, Le pilier des Anges ( The Pillar of Angels ) by Claude Odile (1948), Croquis de Provence ( Designs of Provence ) by André Suarès (1952) Work in which he proves himself for the first time in the technique of woodcut - and finally an illustration for the poetry collection La bonne chanson ( The good song ) by Paul Verlaine (1954). In 1953, Welsch completed a large-scale wall painting for the technical hotel college of Strasbourg (today the college of Fustel de Coulanges), which summarizes his universe - the simple life of man in nature. On June 16, 1954, he died of cancer in Paris and was buried in the Saint-Gall cemetery in Strasbourg.

Main exhibitions

• 1920: Maison d'Art Alsacienne (House of Alsatian Art), Strasbourg
• 1921: Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris with the Groupe de Mai
• 1925: Decorative Arts Exhibition, Paris
• 1927: Sborowski Gallery, Paris
• 1931: Galerie Berthe-Weill, Paris
• 1932: International Colonial Exhibition, Paris
• 1933: House of Alsatian Art, Strasbourg
• 1937: Galerie Aktuaryus, Strasbourg; House of Alsatian Art, Strasbourg; International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques, Paris
• 1938: Exhibition with the "Groupe d'Artistes de ce temps" ("Group of this time artists") at the Petit Palais, Paris
• 1942: Berri Gallery
• 1945: House of Alsatian Art, Strasbourg
• 1948: Galerie Aktuaryus, Strasbourg
• 1950: Galerie André Maurice, Paris; Aktuaryus Gallery, Strasbourg
• 1953: Galerie Aktuaryus, Strasbourg
• 1954: Retrospective Welsch in Rohan Castle, Strasbourg
• 1968: Exhibition at the Bellier Gallery, Paris and auction at the Hotel Drouot, Paris
• 1972: Galerie Aktuaryus, Strasbourg
• 1975: House of Alsatian Art (Old Customs), Strasbourg
• 2006: Retrospective Welsch Historisches Museum, Haguenau

Salon d'Automne Paris (1923–1928; 1934–1938; 1940–1954) - Salon des Tuileries, Paris (1923–1933; 1942–1943) - Salon des Indépendants, Paris (from 1922)

Selection of the most important book illustrations

• 1920: Les bourgeois de Witzheim (The citizens of Witzigheim), André Maurois
• 1923: Amis et amiles suivi de Asseneth, two medieval stories adapted by Fernand Fleuret
• 1928: Rouge et blanc (red and white), Maurice Betz
• 1930: Beau Brummel (Beautiful Brummel), Henri-Bert; La poésie de Paris (The Poetry of Paris), Paul Fort
• 1931: Afrique équatoriale française, Afrique occidentale française, La Syrie (French Equatorial Africa, French West Africa, Syria), Armand Megglé
• 1947: Petits poèmes en prose (Little poems in prose), Charles Baudelaire (unpublished)
• 1948: Le pilier des Anges (The Pillar of Angels), Claude Odilé
• 1952: Croquis de Provence (drafts of Provence), André Suarès
• 1954: La bonne chanson (The good song), Paul Verlaine

Museums that own works by Paul Welsch

• Avignon, Musée Calvet ( Environs de Malaucène - Vaucluse ; Surroundings of Malaucène - Vaucluse )
• Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Musée Albert-André ( Nature morte au melon ; Still life with melon , 1916)
• Belfort, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire ( La Seine à Rueil ; The Seine in Rueil , 1933)
• Colmar, Musée d'Unterlinden ( Colline en Provence ; Hills in Provence , 1950)
• Épinal, Musée départemental d'Art Ancien et Contemporain ( Femme au café ; woman in a café )
• Haguenau, Musée Historique ( Paysage ; landscape )
• La Rochelle, Musée des Beaux-Arts ( Bouquet de fleurs ; bouquet of flowers )
• Mulhouse, Musée des Beaux-Arts ( La Seine à Paris ; The Seine in Paris )
• Paris, Musée national d'Art Moderne, Center Pompidou ( Nature morte dans la verdure ; Still life in the green , around 1953)
• Paris, Musée de la Ville de Paris ( Les barques à Saint-Tropez ; The boats in Saint-Tropez , around 1950. Café Malaucène, la nuit ; Café Malaucène, at night , 1951)
• Sarrebourg, Musée de Sarrebourg ( Vue du Krummel Alsace ; view from Krummel Alsace , 1939)
• Strasbourg, Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain ( Nu couché ; lying file . Strasbourg place Kléber pavoisée pour l'armistice ; Strasbourg, Kléberplatz , flagged for the armistice , 1918. Village en Alsace (Obersteinbach) ; village in Alsace (Obersteinbach) . La Terre (deux nus) ; The earth (two nudes) , 1925. Portrait de la femme de l'artiste ; Portrait of the artist's wife , 1928. Femme au gilet rouge ; Woman with a red vest , 1929. La coupe blanche ; The white one Becher , 1934. Paysage au Mont National (Obernai) ; Landscape on the National Mountain (Obernai) , 1935. Nature morte aux citrons ; Still life with lemons , 1948. Le cours à Malaucène ; The path in Malaucène (old title: Le mail à Malaucène ; The promenade in Malaucène ), 1952. L'après-midi au jardin (Malaucène) ; The afternoon in the garden (Malaucène) , 1952. Paysage "Les Decques au Brusq" ; Landscape "The Decques in Le Brusq . La Montagna Santa Marigne à Corte (Paysage au berger corse) ; The Santa Marigne mountain in Corte (Landscape with a Corsican Shepherd) , 1925. Paysage aux environs de Paris (Le parc) ; Landscape in the Paris area (The Park) . Les vendanges (Puylaroque) ; The Grape Harvest (Puylaroque) , 1929. Paysage aux environs d'Obernai ; Landscape in the Obernai area . Le fort de Six-Fours ; The Fortress of Six-Fours )
• Toulon, Musée d'Art ( Nature morte, fruits ; still life, fruit )
• Vesoul, Musée Georges Garret ( Paysage de Malaucène ; Landscape of Malaucène , 1952)
• Washington, Smithsonian American Art Museum ( Le chantier, autoportrait ; the construction site, autoportrait )

Sources and bibliography

This article is partly taken from the Paul Welsch archives.

• Andrès, Aloyse: Cinquante années de peinture en Alsace (Fifty years of painting in Alsace), Saisons d'Alsace n ° 3, Strasbourg, 1950
• Bénézit, E .: Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs (dictionary of painters, sculptors, draftsmen and engravers), Volume 14, Paris, Gründ, 1999, pp. 532-533
• Bersier, JE: Paul Welsch, Revue de la Méditerranée (Paul Welsch, Revue des Mediterranean), Volume 17 n ° 3, Paris-Alger, 1957
• Braeuner, Hélène: Les peintres et l'Alsace, autour de l'Impressionnisme, La Renaissance du Livre (The Painters and Alsace, on Impressionism, The Renaissance of the Book), Tournai (Belgium), 2003
• Claude, Christian: Paul Welsch ou le réalisme poétique en peinture (Paul Welsch or poetic realism in painting), unpublished
• Heitz, Robert: Le Groupe de Mai - Dixième anniversaire 1919–1929 (The May Group - Tenth Anniversary 1919–1929), La vie en Alsace, Strasbourg, 1929
• Heitz, Robert: Physionomie d'artiste - Paul Welsch (Künstlerphysiognomie - Paul Welsch), La vie en Alsace, Strasbourg, 1931
• Heitz, Robert: La peinture en Alsace 1050–1950 (Painting in Alsace 1050–1950), Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, Strasbourg, 1975
• Lenossos, Marc: Des oeuvres de Paul Cézanne aux paysages alsaciens de Paul Welsch (From the works of Paul Cézanne to the Alsatian landscapes of Paul Welsch), La vie en Alsace, Strasbourg, 1937
• Lotz, François: Artistes peintres alsaciens de jadis et de naguère 1880–1982 (Alsatian painters of old and young), Kaysersberg, Printek, 1987
• Odilé, Claude: Les artistes vivants de l'Alsace (The living artists of Alsace), La vie en Alsace, Strasbourg, 1926
• Odilé, Claude: Le Groupe de Mai, exposition de 1928 (The May group, exhibition of 1928), La vie en Alsace, Strasbourg, 1928
• Wendling, Pia: Une génération de peintres en Alsace - Le Groupe de Mai 1919–1934 (A generation of painters in Alsace - The May group 1919–1934), Musée Historique, Haguenau, 2002
• Wendling, Pia: Paul Welsch 1889–1954, Musée Historique, Haguenau, 2006