Gustave Achille Guillaumet (26 March 1840 – 14 March 1887) was a French artist. He is best known for his paintings of North Africa.

Early life

Gustave Guillaumet was born in 1840 in

Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. In 2016, it had a population of 44,941. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the ...

(now in the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a Departments of France, département in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner Banlieue, suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the e ...

, Paris).

Career

Guillaumet was initially a student of François-Edouard Picot and

Félix-Joseph Barrias Félix-Joseph Barrias (13 September 1822 – 24 January 1907) was a French painter. He was well known in his day for his paintings of religious, historical or mythical subjects, but has now been largely forgotten. Artists who trained in his s ...

. In 1857 he joined the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris where he became a student of Alexandre Abel de Pujol. In 1861 Guillaumet entered the Historical Landscape category of the Prix de Rome for a scholarship to study at the Academy of France in Rome. On failing to win, he instead travelled across the Mediterranean to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, in north Africa. While there he contracted malaria and had to spend three months at the military hospital in Biskra. Guillaumet visited Algeria ten times between 1861 and 1867. He preferred to travel in the south and many of his works depict the life of the people of the desert. Whereas

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

generally gave a deliberately idealised or anecdotal picture of north Africa, Guillaumet's work was notable for portraying the harshness of life in a desert region. ''The Sahara'' features the carcass of a camel in the foreground with a caravan – or mirage of one – on the horizon and empty desert in-between. It was first exhibited to considerable success at the

Salon 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 (P ...

of 1868. Between 1879 and 1884 '' La Nouvelle Revue'' published tableaux of Algerian scenes collected together by Guillaumet. These were later published as a book, ''Tableaux Algériens''. It includes twelve etchings by Guillaumet, Courtry, Paul Edmé Le Rat, Adolphe-Alphonse Géry-Bichard, August Müller and Toussaint; six photogravures by Dujardin and one hundred and twenty-eight engravings in relief from drawings and sketches by Guillaumet, himself. The book was published in 1888, after Guillaumet's death and is prefaced by a note on his life by Eugène Mouton. In 1878, Guillaumet was made a Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

, the highest decoration in France.

Personal life

His son

Gustave Guillaume Gustave Guillaume (16 December 1883 – 3 February 1960) was a French linguist and philologist, originator of the linguistic theory known as "psychomechanics". Career Guillaume was introduced to linguistics by the comparative grammarian Antoine ...

(whose family name was changed), born in 1883, became a famous linguist.

Death

Guillaumet died in Paris in 1887. Speculation about the circumstances of his death, supposedly of peritonitis, was published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' on 6 April. The article claimed that Guillaumet had left his wife and son to live with "a lady who was his senior by many years" but that a few weeks before his death he had shot himself following an argument with his mistress. Guilaumet is buried in

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...

. His tomb bears a sculpture by

Louis-Ernest Barrias Louis-Ernest Barrias (13 April 1841 – 4 February 1905) was a French sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school. In 1865 Barrias won the Prix de Rome for study at the French Academy in Rome. Barrias was involved in the decoration of the Paris Opéra ...

of a ''Young girl from

Bou Saâda Bou Saada ( ar, بو سعادة, ''bu s‘adah'', meaning "place of happiness") is a town and municipality in M'Sila Province, Algeria, situated 245 km south of Algiers. As Arena it was the site of a city and bishopric in Roman Africa, now a C ...

'', dropping flowers onto a portrait of Guillaumet embossed on a medallion.P1070012 by jimread99. In 'Flickr'. Retrieved 2 April 2012, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeppo2/6289618787/

Paintings

*''Arab Ploughing with Camels in the Evening Landscape'', 1861 *''The Oasis'', 1862 *''

Evening Prayer in the Sahara ''Evening Prayer in the Sahara'' ''(french: Prière du soir dans le Sahara)'' is an 1863 painting by Gustave Guillaumet. Executed in oil on canvas and measuring 1.37m by 3.005m, it is one of the most celebrated desert paintings in the Musée d’ ...

'', 1863, exhibited at the

of 1863 (

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

)
''The Sahara''
also known as ''The Desert'', 1867 (

)
''Laghouat, Algerian Sahara''
, 1879, exhibited at the

of 1879 (

)
''Saharan Dwelling, near Biskra, Algeria''
, 1882 (

Chrysler Museum of Art The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...

) *''Dogs of the Douar Devouring a Dead Horse in the Gorges of El Kantar'', 1883
''Irrigation Channel, near Biskra, Algeria''
, 1884, exhibited at the

of 1885 (

)
''Mountains in North Africa, with a Bedouin Camp''
( The National Gallery)
''Weavers of Bou-Saada''
exhibited at the

of 1885 (

)
''Inside Bou-Saâda''
(

) * Flute Players in bivouac, location Musée d'Orsay Salle des Orientalist

Selected works

File:Guillaumet Gustave The Oasis.jpg, ''The Oasis'', 1862 File:Guillaumet, Gustave, Evening Prayer in the Sahara, 1863.JPG, ''Evening Prayer in the Sahara'', 1863 (

) File:Laghouat in the Algerian Sahara (1879).jpg, ''

Laghouat Laghouat ( ar, الأغواط; en, Laghwat) is the capital of the Laghouat Province, Algeria, south of the Algerian capital Algiers. Located in the Amour Range of the Saharan Atlas, the town is an oasis on the north edge of the Sahara Dese ...

, Algerian Sahara'', 1879 (

) File:Guillaumet Dogs of the Douar Devuring a Dead Horse.jpg, ''Dogs of the Douar Devouring a Dead Horse in the Gorges of El Kantar'', 1883

References

External links

*
Photograph of Guillaumet's tomb in Montmartre cemetery

Sketches by Guillaumet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillaumet, Gustave Achille Orientalism French orientalists French landscape painters 19th-century French painters French male painters Orientalist painters People from Puteaux Members of the Académie des beaux-arts École des Beaux-Arts alumni Recipients of the Legion of Honour Knights of the Legion of Honour 1840 births 1887 deaths Burials at Montmartre Cemetery French male writers