Raymond Wintz (Joseph Raimond Wintz) (1884–1956) was a
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
-born
painter and engraver whose most famous paintings were of
marine and coastal views in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
. He is best known for his painting ''The Blue Door'', which is still widely available as a poster and print.
Life
Raymond Wintz was born on 25 March 1884. He was the son of the painter Guillaume Wintz (1823-1899) and the husband of the painter
Renée Carpentier-Wintz
Renée Carpentier-Wintz (1913–2003)Artnet was a French painter. She was the wife of French artist Raymond Wintz. Like her husband, she was famous for her beautiful Brittany landscapes
A landscape is the visible features of an area of l ...
(1913-2003).
Raymond Wintz was trained at the School of Decorative Arts and the National College of Fine Arts in Paris. He was a pupil of Jules Adler at the ''Ecole Francais'' and started exhibiting at the
Salon des Artistes Francais in 1910.
Among the awards and distinctions he held were:
*1911 – Membership of the
Salon
*1922 – Silver Medal,
Salon
*1924 – Officer of the Academy; Gold Medal and Corot Prize,
Salon
*President of the
Salon
*President of the Society of French Landscape Artists
*Knight of the Order 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 ...
*President of the Jury of the
Salon
Raymond Wintz died in 1956 and is buried in
Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris.
Works
The best known of Raymond Wintz’s paintings is ''The Blue Door'', which is still sold as a poster and print. It is believed to have been painted in 1924 and the French title, which appears on some older prints, is ''Un coin du port a Doelan''. It contains many of his typical themes and motifs: a partially seen room with an open door to a balcony overlooking a harbour or coastal scene. A vase or plant-pot containing geraniums or hydrangeas often features. A similarly themed painting, ''The Open Door'', was sold in the US as a "Paint it Yourself Art Program" in the 1950s. The information accompanying this states that Wintz painted the scene following a trip to Brittany in 1924 and that it is based on the actual view from a friend’s villa. Brittany was the location for ''The Blue Door'' and for most of his landscapes which carry the name of the location and include ''Camaret'' and ''Morning Light at Dalan (
Finisterre)''.
A weekly French newspaper,
L'Illustration
''L'Illustration'' was a weekly French newspaper published in Paris from 1843 to 1944. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in France then, after 1906, the ...
, featured one of his watercolours, ''Matinee sur la'' ''Baie du Morbihan''. In addition, several of his prints were reproduced in the ''Homelovers Art Review''. These include ''La Vue Tranquille'', ''Blue Harbour (Port Haliguen) Brittany'', and ''Luminosite Marine''. Postcards were produced featuring some of his paintings, including ''Breton Fishing Village'' and ''Hydrangeas'' published by the Medici Society.
The style in which Raymond Wintz painted can be broadly termed ‘
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
’, although a slight leaning towards
impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
has been noted. He may have been attracted to the Brittany locations because of the quality of the light, in the same way as a school of painting grew up around
Newlyn
Newlyn ( kw, Lulyn: Lu 'fleet', Lynn/Lydn 'pool') is a seaside town and fishing port (the largest fishing port in England) in south-west Cornwall, UK.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End''
Newlyn lies on the shore of Moun ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. He has been called ‘the painter of light’ and his works were described as 'nostalgic' even in the 1950s.
[''The Paint-it-yourself art program presents ''The Open Door'' by Raymond Wintz'' (Date and source not available)] To a modern-day audience his paintings may evoke childhood memories of holidays on the coast. The continuing popularity of ''The Blue Door'' may be because it typifies the kind of view that people want from their front window.
Paintings attributed to 'Richard Wintz' and 'R. Wints' also appear to be by Raymond Wintz, displaying many of his characteristic motifs and stylistic features. The confusion has possibly arisen because his signature is 'R.Wintz' and 'R. Wints' appears to be a misreading of this. Paintings are most commonly signed in the bottom right hand corner.
His works were exhibited in museums and galleries including the Tattegrain Museum and Petit-Palais in Paris and the Museums of Reims, Laon, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montevideo, and Glasgow, but it is not clear how many remain on show. His paintings are occasionally sold at auction in France and other locations, with most originating from and entering private collections.
In terms of auction records, an oil painting called ''La Maison Rose'' (48 x 55 cm) was sold at auction by Bonhams for £2,800 in December 2007. The highest recorded price may be 13,200 euros obtained for ''Port a l'ile d'Yeu'', a large (165 x 195 cm) oil painting sold by Chayette-Cheval in France in December 2004.
Notes
References
''Bénézit Dictionary of Artists'' (2006). Paris: Gründ. (vol. 14)
External links
Artprice.com contains over 100 auction records for Raymond Wintz, including the records noted above.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wintz, Raymond
1884 births
1956 deaths
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
French male painters
Landscape artists