André Bauchant (April 24, 1873 – August 12, 1958) was a French '

naïve Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...

' painter. He is known mostly as a painter of flowers and of landscape compositions with figures which were often informed by

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

and classical history. He was born in Château-Renault,

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it ...

. The son of a gardener, he originally entered his father's trade, and progressed to operating a nursery.Brettell et al. 2009, p. 276. In 1914, he was called to serve in World War I. During the military service his drawing skills were noticed and he was trained as a mapmaker. After demobilization in 1919 he found his nurseries destroyed. He and his wife relocated to

Auzouer-en-Touraine Auzouer-en-Touraine (, literally ''Auzouer in Touraine'') is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department The following is a list of the 272 communes of the In ...

, where he found work on local farms. Inspired by the rural environment, at the age of 45, he dedicated himself to a career as a painter.Brettell et al. 2009, pp. 276–277. Many of his early works depict biblical or mythological themes. His first exhibit was in 1921 at the

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...

, where he showed a large ''Ulysses and the Sirens'' and eight other paintings.

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

and Amédée Ozenfant wrote an article about him for the journal ''L'Esprit Nouveau'' in 1922, and Le Corbusier became an important collector of his work. In 1927 Bauchant was commissioned by Diaghilev to design sets for

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

's '' Apollon Musagète''.Pouillon Subsequently, Bauchant's most frequent subjects were floral still lifes and landscapes with figures. In 1937 his paintings were included in the exhibition ''Maîtres Populaires de la Réalité'', which traveled to Paris, Zurich, and London. In 1938–1939, a version of the same exhibition was presented at eight US museums, beginning with the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York. In 1949, a retrospective exhibition of 215 of his works was mounted by the Galerie Charpentier in Paris. According to the art historian Nadine Pouillon, "Bauchant's treatment of figures, frozen in attitudes indicating a certain awkwardness and as if enshrined in foliage, manifest a poetic and mysterious quality sometimes reminiscent of medieval paintings. This association was further emphasized by his use of unglazed colours in the manner of quattrocento frescoes and by a colour sense similar to that of Giotto."

Notes

References

* * Brettell, Richard R., Paul Hayes Tucker, and Natalie Henderson Lee (2009). ''Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Paintings''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. . * Pouillon, Nadine. "Bauchant, André." ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University Press. Web.

External links

Tate collectionMoMA collection
1873 births 1958 deaths Naïve painters 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists 19th-century French male artists {{France-artist-stub