André Dunoyer de Segonzac (6 July 1884 – 17 September 1974) was a French painter and graphic artist.
Biography
Segonzac was born in
Boussy-Saint-Antoine
Boussy-Saint-Antoine () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France.
The town has close connections with the Dutch village Aagtdorp and the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova ...
and spent his childhood there and in Paris. His parents wanted him to attend the military academy of Saint-Cyr but, recognizing his strong interest in drawing, they agreed to his enrollment at the Free Academy of Luc-Olivier Merson. Merson's academic style of instruction did not suit Segonzac, however, and, following a period of military service, he studied at the
Académie de La Palette, whose staff included
Jacques Émile Blanche
Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
(he would later teach at La Palette with
Jean Metzinger
Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...
and
Henri Le Fauconnier
Henri Victor Gabriel Le Fauconnier (July 5, 1881 – December 25, 1946) was a French Cubist painter born in Hesdin. Le Fauconnier was seen as one of the leading figures among the Montparnasse Cubists. At the 1911 Salon des Indépendants Le Fauco ...
). Soon giving this up in favor of an independent course, free of any masters, he later cited 1906 as the starting date of his artistic career.
His first submission to 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 f ...
was in 1908; the next year he exhibited at the
Salon des Indépendants
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (Pa ...
, and for the next several years he exhibited regularly at both. In the early 1910s he became a member of ''
Section d'Or
The Section d'Or ("Golden Section"), also known as Groupe de Puteaux or Puteaux Group, was a collective of Painting, painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism (art), Orphism. Based in the Parisian suburbs, the grou ...
''. He was one of the modernists included in the
Armory Show
The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was a show organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors in 1913. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of ...
that opened in
New York in 1913, with subsequent showings in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
In 1914, the year of his first solo exhibition (at the Galerie Levesque in Paris), Segonzac was drafted for military service in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He saw combat in the region of Nancy and at Bois-Le-Prêtre, before being transferred to the pioneering
camouflage section led by
Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola. Between 1914–1918 he published and exhibited a number of war drawings, and by war's end he had earned the
Croix de Guerre. He drew on his military experiences—and learned
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
in 1919—in order to illustrate ''The Wooden Crosses'' by
Roland Dorgelès
Roland Dorgelès (; 15 June 1885 – 18 March 1973) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt.
Born in Amiens, Somme, under the name Roland Lecavelé (he adopted the pen name Dorgelès to commemorate visits to the spa town of ...
(published in 1921). Segonzac found etching to be a congenial medium to his spontaneous drawing style, and by the end of his life he had produced some 1600 plates. His work was also part of the art competitions at the
1932 Summer Olympics and the
1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...
.
In 1947, he published his suite of etchings illustrating the ''
Georgics
The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...
'' of
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
. In the judgement of
Anne Distel
Anne Distel (born Anne Dayez on 19 February 1947) is a French honorary general curator of heritage at the Musée d'Orsay and specialist in Impressionist paintings. She curated notable exhibitions such as ''Large monographie Renoir'', ''Cézanne et ...
, chief curator of the
Musée d'Orsay, "The technical perfection and the nobility of the tone, which carried the cachet of the original, but was imbued throughout with an unfailing lyricism, make this work Segonzac's masterpiece. It must be included in a list of the most beautifully illustrated books of
he 20thcentury."
The gossamer quality of his etchings stood in contrast to the thickly painted surfaces and generally somber color of his
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
s, which reflected his admiration for
Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
and
Cézanne. His subjects include
landscapes
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...
,
still lifes, and
nudes. He influenced other artists like
Samuel Peploe
Samuel John Peploe (pronounced PEP-low; 27 January 1871 – 11 October 1935) was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, noted for his still life works and for being one of the group of four painters that became known as the Scottish Colouris ...
.
[Biography and works at Portland Gallery](_blank)
, accessed December 2012 Prolific until the very end of his life as a painter in oils and
watercolor
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...
, and as a printmaker, Segonzac died at age 90 in 1974. He was married to the actress
Thérèse Dorny
Thérèse Dorny (born Thérèse Jeanne Longo-Dorni; 18 September 1891 – 14 March 1976) was a French film and stage actress.
Biography
Thérèse Jeanne Longo-Dorni was born on 18 September 1891 in Paris, Île-de-France, France, the only child ...
.
Collections
Segonzac's work is held in the permanent collections of several museums worldwide, including the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, the
Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
, the
National Portrait Gallery, the
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...
, the
University of Michigan Museum of Art
The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
, the
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.
Overview
The University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art holds over 20,000 objects in its permanent collection. The museum c ...
, the
National Gallery of Denmark
The National Gallery of Denmark ( da, Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen.
The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and han ...
, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, the
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 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 ...
, the
Hiroshima Museum of Art
The is an art museum founded in 1978. It is located in the Hiroshima Central Park in Hiroshima, Japan.
Collections
Gallery 1
*From Romanticism to Impressionism
Gallery 2
*Neo-Impressionists and Post-Impressionists
Gallery 3
*Fauvism and P ...
, the
Hammer Museum, the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.
In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...
, the
Eskenazi Museum of Art
The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University opened in 1941 under the direction of Henry Radford Hope.Baden, Linda J. Indiana University Art Museum: Dedication. Bloomington, IN: Museum, 1982. Print. The museum was intended to be the center of ...
, the
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is an art museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The Brooks Museum, which was founded in 1916, is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Tennessee. The museum is a privately funded nonprofit institution located in ...
, the
Fogg Art Museum
The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
, the
National Museum of Western Art
The is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition.
The museum is in the museum and zoo complex in Ueno Park in Taitō, central Tokyo. It received 1,162,345 visitors in 2016.
History
The NMWA was es ...
, the
Clark Art Institute
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...
, the
Hood Museum of Art
The Hood Museum of Art is owned and operated by Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth dates to 1772, making the collection among the o ...
, the
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project comple ...
, and the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Illustrations
*
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...
, Bertrand Guégan (1892-1943); ''L'almanach de Cocagne pour l'an 1920-1922, Dédié aux vrais Gourmands Et aux Francs Buveurs''
Notice ''WorldCat''
sudoc
BnF
Engraved on wood and unpublished drawings of: Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
, J. Marchand, R. Dufy, Sonia Lewitska, de Segonzac, Jean Émile Laboureur
Émile Laboureur, known as Jean Émile (16 August 1877, Nantes16 June 1943, near Pénestin) was a French painter, designer, engraver, watercolorist, lithographer, and illustrator.
Biography
He was born to a prosperous bourgeois family. In 189 ...
, Friesz, Marquet, Pierre Laprade, Signac, Louis Latapie, Suzanne Valadon
Suzanne Valadon (23 September 18657 April 1938) was a French painter who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des ...
, Henriette Tirman
Jeanne-Henriette Tirman (1875, in Charleville-Mézieres ( Ardenne) – 30 October 1952, in Sèvres (Hauts-de-Seine)) was a French woman painter and printmaker.
Biography
Henriette Tirman was a Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker and illust ...
and others.´
Notes
References
*Distel, Anne (1980). ''Dunoyer de Segonzac''. New York: Crown.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Segonzac, Andre
1884 births
1974 deaths
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
French male painters
French etchers
Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)
People from Essonne
French illustrators
French military personnel of World War I
20th-century French printmakers
Art educators
Honorary Members of the Royal Academy
Olympic competitors in art competitions