Camille Bombois (3 February 1883 – 6 June 1970) was a French
naïve painter especially noted for paintings of
circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...
scenes.
Bombois was born in
Venarey-les-Laumes in the
Côte-d'Or
Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.[wrestler
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...]
before joining a traveling circus as a strongman and wrestler.
In 1907, Bombois fulfilled his dream of moving to Paris, where he married and worked as a railway laborer, eventually finding a night job at a newspaper printing plant handling heavy
newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has a ...
rolls. Despite the exhausting nature of his job he painted from dawn to dusk, sleeping little. He showed his paintings in sidewalk exhibitions, but his earliest paintings, revealing the influence of the
in their subdued use of color, attracted few buyers.
1914 marked the beginning of four-and-a-half years of military service in World War I. Bombois spent much of it on the front line, earning three decorations for bravery. Upon his return home, encouraged that his wife had succeeded in selling a number of his paintings in his absence, he resumed his routine of night labor and daytime painting. In 1922, his sidewalk displays in
Montmartre
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
began attracting the attention of collectors. The art dealer
Wilhelm Uhde
Wilhelm Uhde (28 October 1874, Strzelce Krajeńskie, Friedeberg, Province of Brandenburg (now Poland) – 17 August 1947, Paris) was a German art collector, dealer, author and critic, an early collector of modernist painting, and a significant figu ...
"discovered" him in 1924, and exhibited Bombois' work in the Galeries des Quatre Chemins in 1927.
[Pouillon] In 1937, his works were shown in the exhibition "Maîtres populaires de la réalité" in Paris.
His first solo show was in 1944 at the Galerie Pétridès.
Critics compared Bombois' work to that of
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the landscape
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 ...
s with fishermen. His paintings of women are emphatic in their carnality,
and his landscapes are notable in their careful attention to space, and to the effects of reflected light on water. Bombois' works are on view in many public collections, notably the
Musée Maillol
The Musée Maillol is an art museum located in the 7th arrondissement at 59–61, rue de Grenelle, Paris, France.
History
In 1964, Dina Vierny donated Maillol's monumental sculptures to the state. André Malraux, Minister of Culture, installs ...
in Paris.
Notes
References
*
* Pouillon, Nadine. "Bombois, Camille." ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University Press. Web.
External links
WWAR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombois, Camille
1883 births
1970 deaths
French male painters
20th-century French painters
Naïve painters
French military personnel of World War I
20th-century French male artists