° Artists

The artists and their paintings who were active in France and born before 1900.

William Edward Norton

Artist: Norton, William Edward

November 6, 2021 / ° Artists

William Edward Norton (1843 – 1912) was an American painter, born to a family of Bostonian shipbuilders. Norton became a noted marine painter, stirred by his youth when he sailed on family-owned ships. After his sea service as a young man, he enrolled at both Harvard Medical School and the Lowell Institute. At Lowell, Norton developed a strong interest in art and began studying with George Inness, whose own poetic style deeply influenced the young artist. He then established a studio in Boston.

Alfred Montague

Caen – The Artists – Montague, Alfred

April 29, 2021 / ° Artists

Alfred Montague (1832 – 1883) was a British painter born in London.

Not much, if anything, is known about this British artist. Here is the one painting of his we found dealing with Caen, Normandy.

Alfred Montague

Artist: Montague, Alfred

April 29, 2021 / ° Artists

Alfred Montague (1832 – 1883) was a British painter born in London.

Not much, if anything, is known about this British artist.

Ambrose McEvoy

Artist: McEvoy, Ambrose

October 27, 2021 / ° Artists

Arthur Ambrose McEvoy ARA (1877 – 1927) was an English artist. His early works are landscapes and interiors with figures, in a style influenced by James McNeill Whistler. Later he gained success as a portrait painter, mainly of women and often in watercolour.

Leon-Jules Lemaitre

Artist: Lemaitre, Leon-Jules

April 26, 2021 / ° Artists

Leon-Jules Lemaître (1850 – 1905) is a French painter from the School of Rouen.

A student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he painted mainly urban scenes in Paris or Rouen.

Not much else is known about this artist.

Henri-Charles Guerard

Artist: Guerard, Henri

July 1, 2022 / ° Artists

Henri Charles Guerard (1846 – 1897) was a French painter, engraver, lithographer and printer. He was born and died in Paris.

He married in 1879 to Eva Gonzales, painter, student, model and friend of Monet.

Not much else is known about this artist.

Eva Gonzales

Artist: Gonzales, Eva

March 7, 2022 / ° Artists

Eva Gonzales (1849 – 1883) was a French Impressionist painter. She was born in Paris and became introduced to sophisticated literary and art circles at an early age by her father, writer Emmanuel Gonzales.

In 1865, at age sixteen, Eva Gonzales began her professional training and art lessons in drawing from the society portraitist Charles Chaplin (no, not that one).

Ambroise Louis Garneray

Caen – The Artists – Garneray, Ambroise Louis

September 25, 2021 / ° Artists, Caen, Normandy, West

Ambroise Louis Garneray (1783 – 1857) was a French corsair, painter and writer. He was held as prisoner-of-war by the British for eight years .

He was in fact the first Peintre de la Marine.

Here are two of his paintings he made in the city of Caen, Normandy.

Ambroise Louis Garneray

Artist: Garneray, Ambroise Louis

September 25, 2021 / ° Artists

Ambroise Louis Garneray (1783 – 1857) was a French corsair, painter and writer. He was held as prisoner-of-war by the British for eight years.

He was in fact the first Peintre de la Marine.

Charles Hoguet

Artist: Hoguet, Charles

October 1, 2021 / ° Artists

Charles Hoquet (1821 – 1870), although born and died in Berlin, Germany, as a Huguenot, belonged to the French colony in Berlin and is considered a French painter.

He was a student of the German marine painter Wilhelm Krausse. He joined the studio of Eugene Ciceri the following year in Paris. In 1841 he was a student of Eugene Isabey.

Paul Cesar Helleu

Deauville – The Artists – Helleu, Paul Cesar

April 12, 2021 / ° Artists, Deauville, Normandy, West

Paul Cesar Helleu (1859 – 1927) was a French oil painter, pastel artist, drypoint etcher, and designer, best known for his numerous portraits of beautiful society women of the Belle Epoque. He also conceived the ceiling mural of night sky constellations for Grand Central Terminal in New York City. He was also the father of Jean Helleu and the grandfather of Jacques Helleu, both artistic directors for Parfums Chanel.

Helleu was commissioned in 1884 to paint a portrait of a young woman named Alice Guérin (1870–1933). They fell in love, and married on 28 July 1886. Throughout their lives together, she was his favourite model. Charming, refined and graceful, she helped introduce them to the aristocratic circles of Paris, where they became popular fixtures.

On his second trip to the United States in 1912, Helleu was awarded the commission to design was the ceiling decoration in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. He decided on a mural of a blue-green night sky covered by the starry signs of the zodiac that cross the Milky Way. Although the astrological design was widely admired, the ceiling was covered in the 1930s. It was completely restored in 1998.

While planning for a new exhibition with Jean-Louis Forain, he died in 1927 at age 67 of peritonitis following surgery in Paris. Among many of his friends was Coco Chanel, who chose beige as her signature colour upon on his advice—the colour of the sand on the beach of Biarritz in early morning. Both his son Jean Helleu and his grandson Jacques Helleu became artistic directors for Parfums Chanel.

Here are some of his many paintings he made in Deauville, Normandy.

Paul Cesar Helleu

Artist: Helleu, Paul Cesar

April 11, 2021 / ° Artists

Paul Cesar Helleu (1859 – 1927) was a French oil painter, pastel artist, drypoint etcher, and designer, best known for his numerous portraits of beautiful society women of the Belle Epoque. He also conceived the ceiling mural of night sky constellations for Grand Central Terminal in New York City. He was also the father of Jean Helleu and the grandfather of Jacques Helleu, both artistic directors for Parfums Chanel.

Helleu was commissioned in 1884 to paint a portrait of a young woman named Alice Guérin (1870–1933). They fell in love, and married on 28 July 1886. Throughout their lives together, she was his favourite model. Charming, refined and graceful, she helped introduce them to the aristocratic circles of Paris, where they became popular fixtures.

On his second trip to the United States in 1912, Helleu was awarded the commission to design was the ceiling decoration in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. He decided on a mural of a blue-green night sky covered by the starry signs of the zodiac that cross the Milky Way. Although the astrological design was widely admired, the ceiling was covered in the 1930s. It was completely restored in 1998.

While planning for a new exhibition with Jean-Louis Forain, he died in 1927 at age 67 of peritonitis following surgery in Paris. Among many of his friends was Coco Chanel, who chose beige as her signature colour upon on his advice—the colour of the sand on the beach of Biarritz in early morning. Both his son Jean Helleu and his grandson Jacques Helleu became artistic directors for Parfums Chanel.

Sylvia Gosse

Artist: Gosse, Sylvia

March 7, 2022 / ° Artists

Laura Sylvia Gosse (1881 – 1968) was an English painter and printmaker. She ran an art school with the painter Walter Sickert.

Eye cataracts put an end to her painting in 1961, and she died in 1968.

Paul Gauguin

Artist: Gauguin, Paul

September 26, 2021 / ° Artists

Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism. Toward the end of his life, he spent ten years in French Polynesia. The paintings from this time depict people or landscapes from that region.

His work was influential on the French avant-garde and many modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, and he is well known for his relationship with Vincent and Theo van Gogh. Gauguin’s art became popular after his death, partially from the efforts of dealer Ambroise Vollard, who organized exhibitions of his work late in his career and assisted in organizing two important posthumous exhibitions in Paris.

Jean Dufy

Deauville – The Artists – Dufy, Jean

April 5, 2021 / ° Artists, Deauville, Normandy, West

Jean Dufy, a French painter, was born in Le Havre and painted in the Fauvism, Impressionism, Modernism, and Cubism styles/movements. His older brother, Raoul Dufy, was also an artist and became Jean’s mentor.

He painted mostly in the Paris region, but did manage a few in Deauville. Here they are.

Lambert Doomer

Artist: Doomer, Lambert

March 31, 2021 / ° Artists

Lambert Doomer (1624 – 1700) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. Doomer was the third of nine children of Herman Doomer (1595–1650) and his wife Baertje Martens, who ran a successful business in ebony-veneer furniture. Lambert was trained as a furniture maker like his father, but seemed to enjoy drawing more than woodworking and he became an artist. It is not known who trained him, but since his father supplied frames for Rembrandt, he probably had access to a teacher within his father’s network. Rembrandt painted portraits of his parents for their 25th wedding anniversary, which was unusual at the time, in 1638.

To finish his education, Lambert traveled to France with Willem Schellinks who was three years younger than he was, in 1646. They both made extensive drawings of this trip and Schellinks drawings are kept in the Fondation Custodia in Paris, the foundation started by Frits Lugt. Their destination was Nantes, where two of Doomer’s brothers lived, but they argued and split up. They then embarked on a trip to England, and though both were on the same ship, they are not mentioned in each other’s journals.

William Raymond Dommersen

Le Havre – The Artists – Dommersen, William

March 27, 2021 / ° Artists, Le Havre, Normandy, West

William Raymond Dommersen, also Dommersheusen and Dommersheuzen, was a Dutch/English painter of Land- and Seascapes, Villages and Towns. He signed his work as W or WR Dommersen. Dommersen was born at the end of 1859 in Stratford, West Ham, London as the son of the Anglo / Dutch fine art painter Pieter Cornelis Dommersen and Anna Petronella Synja.

His parents had moved from the Netherlands in 1855 to London, England. Pre 1700 the family came from Dahlheim, near Koblenz, in Germany, so their family name was originally ‘Dommershausen’.

We found one of his paintings he made in Le Havre.

William Raymond Dommersen

Caen – The Artists – Dommersen, William

March 26, 2021 / ° Artists, Caen, Normandy, West

William Raymond Dommersen, also Dommersheusen and Dommersheuzen, was a Dutch/English painter of Land- and Seascapes, Villages and Towns. He signed his work as W or WR Dommersen. Dommersen was born at the end of 1859 in Stratford, West Ham, London as the son of the Anglo / Dutch fine art painter Pieter Cornelis Dommersen and Anna Petronella Synja.

His parents had moved from the Netherlands in 1855 to London, England. Pre 1700 the family came from Dahlheim, near Koblenz, in Germany, so their family name was originally ‘Dommershausen’.

We found one of his paintings he made in Caen.

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