Cherbourg

A city that used to be a powerhouse in the industrial efforts, particularly shipping, now it’s run down, but still has some sparkles.

Henri Matisse

Cherbourg – The Artists – Matisse, Henri

Henri Emile Benoit Matisse (1869 – 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture.

Here are his works for Cherbourg, Normandy.

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Cherbourg – The Artists – Turner, William

Joseph Mallord William Turner, known contemporarily as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colourisations, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings.

He spent a lot of time painting in Normandy. He did not paint in Cherbourg itself, instead in the nearby village of Saint-Vaast-la-Hogue.

Frank Myers Boggs

Cherbourg – The Artists – Boggs, Frank Myers

Frank Boggs was an American (and later French) painter (born in the USA, died in France). He studied art in Paris, and travelled between France (Normandy), The Netherlands, Italy and Belgium. He naturelized to French citizenship. He is buried next to his artist son in Paris.

Boggs did not paint in Cherbourg itself, instead he worked in nearby Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue, Normandy.

Louis-Etienne Timmermans

Cherbourg – The Artists – Timmermans, Louis-Etienne

Louis-Etienne Timmermans (1846 – 1910) was a Belgian painter, specialized in marine paintings and landscapes. He was a pupil of the Academie de Bruxelles and the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris.

Timmermans worked mostly in France, painting small coastal harbours, which he painted with a precise realism.

He died in 1910 in Paris. Not much else is known about him. Here is the one painting of his we found dealing with Cherbourg.

Paul Signac

Cherbourg – The Artists – Signac, Paul

Paul Victor Jules Signac was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. He started training as an architect but quickly decided he wanted to be an artist.

Here are his works for Cherbourg and surrounding town of Barfleur.

Jules Achille Noel

Cherbourg – The Artists – Noel, Jules Achille

Jules Achille Noel, born Louis Assez Noel (1815-1881) was a French landscape and maritime painter who worked primarily in Brittany and Normandy.

His style was compared to Eugène Isabey and he won the praise of Baudelaire. We found only one of his paintings dealing with Cherbourg.

Charles Louis Mozin

Cherbourg – The Artists – Mozin, Charles Louis

Charles-Louis Mozin (1806 – 1862) was born into a family of musicians, Charles-Louis Mozin studied with Xavier Leprince. Primarily a painter and lithographer of coastal landscapes, harbour views and seascapes, he exhibited at the Salons in Paris between 1824 and 1861.

Along with Eugene Isabey and Richard Parkes Bonington, Mozin was one of the first artists to paint landscapes depicting the beach and fishing port of Trouville in Normandy, which he discovered around 1825, and where he settled in 1839.

He also travelled in Germany and Holland, where he frequently exhibited his work between 1840 and 1850. Landscape paintings by Mozin are today in the museums of Amiens, Honfleur, Rouen, Toulon, Trouville, Versailles, and elsewhere, while a number of views of Paris are in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.

Here are his works for Cherbourg.

Emile Louis Mathon

Cherbourg – The Artists – Mathon, Emile Louis

Emile Louis Mathon (1855 – 1887) was a French painter and a student of Charles-Francois Daubigny, master of the Barbizon school, and Louis Arban.

During his career, he painted Paris and the Seine, country scenes and maritime views (fishing scenes, warships, port views), Normandy and the Channel coast. Here is the one painting we could find of his for Cherbourg.

Gustave Le Gray

Cherbourg – The Artists – Le Gray, Gustave

Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (1820 – 1884) has been called the most important French photographer of the nineteenth century because of his technical innovations, his instruction of other noted photographers, and the extraordinary imagination he brought to picture making.

He was an important contributor to the development of the wax paper negative. Gustave Le Gray was born in 1820 in Villiers-le-Bel, Val-d’Oise. He was originally trained as a painter, studying under François-Édouard Picot and Paul Delaroche. He lived in Italy between 1843-1846 and painted portraits and scenes of the countryside. Le Gray exhibited his paintings at the salon in 1848 and 1853. He then crossed over to photography in the early years of its development.

He was a successful portrait photographer, capturing figures such as Napoleon III and Edward VII. He also became famous for his seascapes, or marine. He spent 20 years in Cairo, Egypt, but there are few works from this period.

Louis Philippe Crepin

Cherbourg – The Artists – Crepin, Louis-Philippe

Louis-Philippe Crépin was a French marine painter. Together with Theodore Gudin, he was appointed as one of France’s first two Peintres de la Marine in 1830. His best known painting is “Combat de la frégate française La Bayonnaise contre la frégate anglaise l’Embuscade 14 décembre 1798”, which was commissioned by Napoleon for display at the Tuileries. It was shown at the Salon in 1801. Until 1834, it was hung in the former residence of the Empress at the Château de Saint-Cloud, then was transferred to Versailles by King Louis Philippe I. Here are the paintings he made in Cherbourg.

Lady Mary Louisa Bruce

Cherbourg – The Artists – Bruce, Mary Louisa, Countess of Elgin and Kincardine

Mary Louisa Bruce, Countess of Elgin and Kincardine (née Lambton; 1819 – 1898) was the daughter of John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham and his second wife Louisa Elizabeth Lambton (née Grey), daughter of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. She travelled to Canada twice: the first time when her father went to Canada to investigate the Lower Canada Rebellion in 29 May – 1 November 1838. She later returned to Canada with her husband, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, from 1847 to 1853.

An accomplished artist, she studied under John Richard Coke-Smyth, alongside her sister, Lady Emily Augusta, and travel companion, Katherine Ellice. She wrote and illustrated journals and diaries of her international travels.

We found only one of her paintings dealing with Cherbourg.

Eugene Louis Boudin

Cherbourg – The Artists – Boudin, Eugene-Louis

Eugene Boudin is a real Normandy based artist, born and died in Normandy. He was an Impressionist painter and a close friend of Claude Monet. He was the son of a harbour pilot who later went on and set up a picture framing and stationery shop. His son took to the business and later set up his own shop, putting him in contact with many artists. At the age of 22 he started painting.

Here is the one painting we found of his of Cherbourg.

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Cherbourg – Tips

Transport Getting There There is a direct rail line Cherbourg – Paris which makes getting there easy and fast if you are arriving from the capital. By Air Cherbourg has a small airport (Maupertus Airport) but there are no scheduled flights in or outside of France. It is mostly used for private an charter flights. By Ferry …

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