Georges Philibert Charles Maroniez (17 January 1865,

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...

– 11 December 1933,

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 ...

) was a French painter, specializing in landscapes with figures.

Biography

Education and first works

Maroniez was the son of an industrialist who owned a sugar refinery in

Montigny-en-Ostrevent Montigny-en-Ostrevent is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes coop ...

. He displayed artistic talent at an early age, but – although not discouraged – was expected to pursue a more professional career. Accordingly, he studied law, and afterwards served as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

in, successively,

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...

(1891),

Avesnes-sur-Helpe Avesnes-sur-Helpe (; vls, Avenne aan de Helpe) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Nord department. It is situated 14 km from the Belgian border, and 18 km south of Maubeuge, the near ...

(1894) and Cambrai (1897). While attending law school, he also took courses at the École des Beaux-Arts of Douai and became a student of in

Cantin Cantin () is a commune of the Hauts-de-France region in the Nord department in northern France. It is southeast of Douai. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of ...

. It was there that he met the painter

Adrien Demont Adrien Louis Demont (25 October 1851, Douai - 25 October 1928, Wissant) was a French landscape painter; associated with the artists' colony at Wissant. Biography At first, he studied law, but decided to devote himself to painting. His first ...

, the son-in-law of

Jules Breton Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton (1 May 1827 – 5 July 1906) was a 19th-century French naturalist painter. His paintings are heavily influenced by the French countryside and his absorption of traditional methods of painting helped make Jules ...

. Urged on by Breton, at the age of 22 he started exhibiting peasant genre and landscape scenes in Douai and Paris. He began vacationing in

Wissant Wissant (; from nl, Witzand, lang, “white sand”) is a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Wissant is a fishing port and farming village located approximately north of Boulog ...

, where he stayed with Demont and his wife,

Virginie Demont-Breton Virginie Élodie Marie Thérèse Demont-Breton (26 July 1859, Courrières – 10 January 1935, Paris) was a French painter. Biography Her father Jules Breton and her uncle Émile Breton were both well-known painters. Through her father she ...

, painting the coastal scenery and becoming associated with the "École de Wissant", founded by

Henri Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry (given name), Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List_of_rulers_named_Henry#France, List of rulers named Henry ...

and Marie Duhem. In 1889, he became a member of the

Société des Artistes Français The Société des Artistes Français (, meaning "Society of French Artists") is the association of French painters and sculptors established in 1881. Its annual exhibition is called the "Salon des artistes français" (not to be confused with the ...

. At the annual

Salon des artistes français The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

, he was awarded a Honorable Mention in 1891, a 3rd Medal in 1905, and a 2nd Medal in 1906. Defying the label of "marine painter", he filled his genre scene paintings with Flemish realism. Using a luminous, caressing light, he transposed the grey country roads of his birthplace with light, and painted eloquent snowy landscapes. He painted ports of Brittany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as numerous scenes of the fisherman's life, especially at twilight or night. He captured the magnetic beauty of an ocean sunset, and the tranquility that beauty and light brings.

Inventions

Maroniez also became interested in photography and invented one of the first hand-held cameras, a device which he soon simplified, named the "Sphynx" and patented in 1891. The camera used a type of film invented by chemist

Victor Planchon Victor Joseph Planchon (12 January 1863, Paris - 1 February 1935, Lyon) was a French chemist. He worked with the Lumière brothers to develop a celluloid emulsion process. Biography At the age of fifteen, he joined the staff at a government la ...

, a relative of his. He travelled widely throughout the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East, using his device to take over 1,600 images that are in the collection of the museum in Cambrai. Later he devised and patented a method of suppressing the vibrations and jerky movements produced by the cinematographs of the

Lumière Brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: * Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, ...

, which had its unveiling in 1899 at the Société Photographique in Cambrai. In 1905, the success of his paintings and the

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

attitudes of the Combes administration led him to resign from the judiciary, and to devote himself entirely to art.

World War I and maturity

In August 1914, Maroniez was drafted into Military Justice. In 1918 he was created a Knight of the

Légion d'honneur 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 ...

. During the German occupation of north-east France, his studio was looted, and his wife was deported, with hundreds of other French civilian hostages, to

Holzminden internment camp Holzminden internment camp was a large World War I detention camp (''Internierungslager'') located to the north-east of Holzminden, Lower Saxony, Germany, which existed from 1914 to 1918. It held civilian internees from allied nations. It was th ...

in Lower Saxony."Forced labour, hostages and deportees" Claudine WALLART, Head Curator of Heritage at the Archives Départementales du Nord (Nord Records Office)
/ref> The family was reunited only after the ceasefire; they relocated to Paris in 1919.
He subsequently took most of his inspiration from

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 ...

. His works were very popular but, according to some critics, became repetitive and too commercial. Over 800 paintings are attributed to him, of which the majority are in private collections. He died of a heart attack in 1933 and was interred in the family vault at Cambrai.

Gallery

Paysage rural (Rural landscape).jpg, alt=Rural landscape - Oil on canvas, 1893, Dahesh Museum of Art, NewYork, NY, USA, ''Rural landscape'' (1893), oil on canvas, New York,

Dahesh Museum of Art The Dahesh Museum of Art is the only museum in the United States devoted to the collection and exhibition of European academic art of the 19th and 20th century. The collection, located in Manhattan, New York City, originated with Lebanese writer ...

. Jeunes filles en balade sur la jetée Est (Girls strolling on East wharf).jpg, alt= Girls strolling on East wharf, 1904
Photothèque de Cambrai, ''Girls strolling on East wharf'' (1904), photographic glass plate, photothèque de Cambrai. Georges-Philibert-Charles Maroniez - Pêcheurs d'Equihen (1902).jpg, ''Fishermen of Equihen'', 1902, oil on canvas, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. Tristes nouvelles (Wreckers off the Brittany Coast).jpg, ''Sad news'' (1911) oil on canvas, private collection. Le laboureur (The Ploughman).jpg, ''The ploughman'', oil on canvas, private collection. Paix et abondance (Peace and plenty).jpg, ''Peace and plenty'', oil on canvas, private collection. Coucher de soleil (Sunset).jpg, ''Sunset'', oil on canvas, private collection. Le retour des pêcheurs (The return of the fishermen).JPG, ''The return of the fishermen'', oil on canvas, private collection. Au bord de l'Odet.jpg, ''Along the Odet river'' (1914), pastel on canvas, private collection. Pêche aux coques au crépuscule (Cockling at dusk).jpg, ''Cockling at dusk'', oil on canvas, private collection. Georges Maroniez - Le garde.jpg, ''The Guard'', oil on canvas, private collection.

References

External links

Works by Maroniez in the museums of Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Georges Maroniez et ses appareils photographiques et cinématographique {{DEFAULTSORT:Maroniez, Georges 1865 births 1933 deaths French genre painters 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists 19th-century French male artists