Simon Simon-Auguste

Simon Joseph Simon-Auguste (20 April 1909 – May 1987) was a French artist, known for his intimate paintings, mainly portraits, nudes and still lifes. His production is characterized by a calm, intimate feel, and the effective use of glaze.

Early years

Born in Marseille, Simon-Auguste was the son of Antonin Auguste, a cabinetmaker specialized in restoring furniture in the chateaux of the Provence.

His mother, Antoinette Rossage, was originally from the Savoie, France. The couple had plenty children.

Simon studied at the ''École communale'' of his neighborhood at rue Eydoux, in Marseille, where he excelled in design.

In 1923 he started working in the Clérissy ceramic factory in Saint-Jean-du-Désert as an interior designer trainee. He later worked painting religious statues and making dolls at a workshop. He combined these various jobs with evening classes at the ''Marseille school of fine arts'' (the director was Henri Brémond).

In 1929 he was encouraged to pursue singing at the Music Conservatory under Figarella. This only lasted a year. Also in 1929 he was exempt to do the military service for his bad health.

Marseille

In 1931 Simon-Auguste finished his studies at the ''École des Beaux-Arts'' and won the ''Stanislas-Torrents'' award. He was commissioned to execute the mural decorations of the town hall in Allauch. He began exhibiting in Marseille where doctors and lawyers purchased his paintings.

In 1932 he invested into a 6-month stay in Paris where he frequented the Louvre Museum and became specially interested in the '' Camondo Collection''. At the invitation of art dealer Adolphe Basler, he took part in the ''Moins de trente ans'' exhibition, at the ''Galerie de Sèvres'', along with Jacques Despierre, André Hambourg, Louis Dideron, Léon Couturier, among others. He presented a nude, a still life, and a view of the Jardin du Luxembourg. He also started dealing with Georges Petit and the ''Galerie Vildrac''.

In 1933 Simon-Auguste had his first solo exhibition at the ''Galerie Detailles'', at the Canebière in Marseille which contributed to his success. He displayed 40 pieces (paintings, watercolours and sketches), mostly nudes and genre scenes.

In 1934 he married a philosophy student who would become a journalist under the pseudonym of Michele Seurière. For his second solo exhibition at the ''Galerie Detailles'' a few landscapes and marines were added to his portfolio.

In 1936 he helped illustrate ''Les Taches d’Encre'', by Léon Cadenel, with an ink design of a Provençal landscape.

In 1937 he painted a panel of for the ''École d’Istres'', the title being "''Les Salins-de-Giraud''", and five other panels (three of and two of for the ''Château-Gombert school'' about "Les jeux des enfants".

World War II

During the 1930s Simon-Auguste explored subjects around nudes and landscapes. Later these evolved into children, still lifes and locals, full of intimacy and simplicity, which gained him a lot of recognition. Among these, we find ''La fillette au bol'' and ''Tête d'Enfant'', which were purchased by the '' Musée Longchamp'', Marseille.

It was 1939 when he could afford to move to Paris. The family settled at 38 rue de Malte and Simon-Auguste started submitting his work to the ''Salon d'Automne'', '' Salon des Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps'', and other major exhibitions.

At the outbreak of World War II, he was on holiday in Auvergne. In 1940, he was mobilized. Within two months he had to retreat to Ussel, forced by his ill health. In 1941 he reconverted a rented farm there into his atelier.

Paris

Simon-Auguste returned to Paris after the Liberation in 1944, to take part for the first time in the ''Nationale'' with ''La Fillette aux Pommes''.

Up to 1947 Simon-Auguste signed his paintings with fountain pen ink. Afterwards, he used brush oil. In general, he tended to sign on the lower right corner.

He spent some Summer holidays in Villiers-sur-Morin in the late 1940s. In 1949 he traveled around Italy: Rome, Florence, Siena, San-Giminiano, Venice, Milan.

In 1950 he was appointed member at the Salon d’Automne. This year he submitted ''Le Café du Commerce'' to the ''Grand Prix de la Peinture Contemporaine'', at the Marsan Pavilion (Louvre Museum). He was amongst the 100 painters selected by the jury.

Also in 1950 the city of Paris acquired his ''Marine de La Rochelle''. The Musée du ''Château de Sceaux'' acquired ''Paysage de l'Ille-de-France''. The French state acquired ''La Fillette à la lampe'' in 1952, ''Nature morte aux Bleuets'' in 1953, and ''Comme un Poisson dans l’Eau'' in 1955.

In 1951 he contributed to an itinerant exhibition around Switzerland (Bern, Lausanne and Geneva) about ''Les fleurs et les fruits''.

He produced a portrait of French writer and critic Paul Léautaud in 1956.

Simon-Auguste died in Roanne in May 1987.

His works can be found in private collections and museums, such as the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, the Musée Cantini in Marseille, the Musée Carnavalet in Paris, and Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris.

Reviews

* Journalist Micheline Sandrel in ''Lettres et Médecins'':
“''You teach us to see better what lies around us, Simon-Auguste, for you instruct us in silence and its harmonies, and in that tenderness, which resembles silence.''”

* Painter and art critic Raymond Charmet in ''Arts Magazine'':
“''Simon-Auguste’s work strikes us by the unity and stylistic mastery which this intelligent and strong-willed painter has succeeded in achieving. The major problems of art are approached and resolved with remarkable determination: that of composition, clear and rigorous; that of line, clean and pure, as in the work of the Primitives; that of color, at once striking in its vibrant blues and subtlety refined, harmonized.''”

* French art critic, journalist, and art historian Raymond Cogniat in ''Le Figaro'':
“''...The moving sensitivity of this artist. In blue surroundings, female subjects depicted in peaceful colors assume attitudes of calm and repose; an art of silence and meditation whose delicacy is very winning.''”

Quotes

“''I love silence and the sweetness of the daily routine, the simple language of familiar objects, the profound individual glory, the quiet enthusiasm of meditation.''”

“''I want to escape the modern myth of cosmos, the geometry of the arbitrary and the factual, to translate the balance, density, purity and tenderness of the human figure, its delicate shapes, and to draw this inner world deeper than interstellar spaces.''”

Paintings

* 1951
Paysage près de Villiers-sur-Morin
', oil on canvas , Musée du Domaine départemental de Sceaux.
* 1956 ''Portrait of Paul Léautaud'' (1872–1956), writer, at his house in de Fontenay-aux-Roses, oil on canvas , Musée Carnavalet.
* ''Nature morte aux poires''
* ''L'écoliere''
* ''Fleurs variées''
* ''Fillette à l'ardoise''
* ''La partie de carte''
* ''Le modèle''
* ''Fille au bouquet''
* ''Nu''
* ''Fleurs des champs''
* ''Le rendez-vous''

Exhibitions

* 1933 ''Galerie Detailles'', Marseille.
* 1935 ''Galerie du Radeau'', quai de Rive-Neuve, Marseille (with Moïse Kisling, Jacques Thevenet and Auguste Chabaud).
* 1936 he presented drawings and gouaches at the ''Galerie du Cours-Mirabeau'', in Aix-en-Provence.
* 1938 ''Galerie Ymo'', Marseille, where he presented 25 paintings and 5 drawings (nudes, flowers, and landscapes).
* 1941 & 1943 ''Galerie Camus'', Avenue Blatin, in Clearmont-Ferrand.
* 1945 ''Galerie Lhote'', La Rochelle (30 pieces).
* 1945 ''Nationale'', Paris, with “''Femme se coiffant''”.
* 1946 '' Salon des Artistes Indépendants'' with “''Tête d’Enfant''” and “''Nu sur un Canapé''”.
* 1947 ''Salon d’Automne'', Paris.
* 1948 ''Salon des Tuileries'', Paris.
* 1948 ''Galerie Bénézit'', Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, his first solo exhibition in Paris.
* 1948 ''Galerie Lhote'', in La Rochelle.
* 1948 ''Galerie Le Verseau'', together with “''Le Cirque''” group, with a portrait of two clowns about to speak and a landscape of Villiers-sur-Morin.
* 1949 '' ''Salon des Artistes Indépendants''
* 1949 ''Galerie Saint Placide''
* 1949 ''Salon d’Automne''
* 1949 ''Salon des Tuileries'', with “''La Femme au Gilet rouge''”.
* 1949 ''Galerie Doucet'', with “''Quatre Points Cardinaux''”.
* 1949 ''Galerie Le Verseau'', with “''La Vie en rose''”.
* 1950 ''Société des Artistes Indépendants''
* 1950 ''Salon d’Automne''.
* 1950 ''Galerie Allard'', with the “'' Groupe des Dix''”, with “''Tête d’Enfant''” and “''Femme mettant ses Bas''”.
* 1951 ''Galerie des Saussaies'', with 20 paintings.
* 1951 ''Salon d’Automne'', with “''Au Café''”.
* 1951 '' Salon des Artistes Indépendants'', with “''Le Bal à l’Auberge''”.
* 1952 ''Galerie Allard'', with his very personal children, nudes and flowers
* 1952 '' Salon des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps'', with “''Deux Fillettes jouant au Jeu de Dames''”.
* 1952 ''Salon d’Automne'', with “''La Cour de Ferme''”.
* 1953 '' Salon des Artistes Indépendants'', with “''L’Enfant aux Fruits''”.
* 1953 '' Salon du dessin et de la peinture à l'eau''.
* 1953 ''Galerie Monique de Groote'' about “''Les Filles''”.
* 1953 ''Galerie Jacquet'', in Bourges.
* 1953 ''Galerie Mirador'', with 20 paintings.
* 1954 ''Salon d’Automne'', with “''La Fillette au Damier''”.
* 1955 '' Salon des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps'' about “''Le Bonheur''”.
* 1955 ''Galerie Jacquet'', in Bourges, with 20 paintings.
* 1955 ''Salon des artistes honfleurais''.
* 1955 ''Galerie Breteau'', about “''Le Taureau''” (the bull).
* 1955 & 1957 ''Galerie Saint-Placide'', with 20 recent paintings.
* 1959 '' Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat'', in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
* 1959 ''Galerie 65'', in Cannes.
* 1959 & 1960 ''Galerie Recio'', with Jean Cocteau and others.
* 1960 ''Galerie de Presbourg''.
* 1964 ''Biennale de peinture'' of Menton, with "''Nature morte au fleurs bleu''".

Notes

References

* Simon Simon-Auguste in Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. 2010. .
* Le Peintre N° 151 : Simon Auguste – Beaux arts – 15/10/1957
* Simon-Auguste, Galerie Yves Jaubert, Paris, 1969.

Sources

* Jean-Albert Cartier: Documents. Encyclopédie Générale des Beaux-Arts aux XIXe et XXe siècles, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, architectes, décorateurs, etc. "Simon-Auguste 1909". École Française Nº 13. Éditions Pierre Cailler, Genève. Imprimé en Suisse. Octobre 1955.
* Michelle Seurière: "Simon-Auguste". Jean Grassin Éditeur, 1962.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon-Auguste, Simon
20th-century French painters
French male painters
1909 births
1987 deaths