Armand Guillaumin (; February 16, 1841 – June 26, 1927) was a French

impressionist 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 passag ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

and

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

Biography

Early years

Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, he worked at his uncle's

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fash ...

shop while attending evening drawing lessons. He also worked for a French government railway before studying at the Académie Suisse in 1861. There, he met

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

and

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

, with whom he maintained lifelong friendships. While he never achieved the stature of these two, his influence on their work was significant. With these two friends, Guillaumin exhibited at the

Salon des Refusés The Salon des Refusés, French for "exhibition of rejects" (), is generally known as an exhibition of works rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863. Today, b ...

in 1863.The three artists frequently painted in each other's company in the 1870s; for a time, Guillaumin and Cézanne had studios next door to each other on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris. In 1873, Cézanne made the only etchings of his career, one of them depicting Guillaumin (see Gallery below). Guillaumin was a member of the
Société anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs
' (later dubbed, ''Impressionistes'') from the start and he participated in six of the eight Impressionist exhibitions: 1874, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1886. In the eyes of contemporary critics, he became known for his assured brushstroke and use of bold colours. In 1886, an astute critic,

Félix Fénéon Félix Fénéon (; 22 June 1861 – 29 February 1944) was a French art critic, gallery director, writer and anarchist during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He coined the term ''Neo-Impressionism'' in 1886 to identify a group of a ...

, called him a "furious colourist"; By the 1890s, his palette had grown even bolder, less faithful to nature. He was a Fauve a decade before

Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

Full-time painter

In 1886, he became a friend of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

, whose brother,

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

, exhibited and sold some of his works. Vincent held Guillaumin's work in high regard, commenting on it in dozens of letters written from 1888 t
1890
In the mid 1880s, Guillaumin's studio was a meeting place for young artists such as

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. ...

and

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough su ...

. Guillaumin was finally able to quit his government job and concentrate on painting full-time in 1891, when he won 100,000 francs in the state lottery."Armand Guillaumin", Oxford Art Online

Exhibitions and Collections

Armand Guillaumin was given large solo exhibitions at many of the top Parisian galleries, including Galeries Durand-Ruel in 1895, Galerie

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with providing exposure and emotio ...

in 1897,

Galerie Bernheim-Jeune Bernheim-Jeune gallery is one of the oldest art galleries in Paris. Opened on Rue Laffitte in 1863 by Alexandre Bernheim (1839-1915), friend of Delacroix, Corot and Courbet, it changed location a few times before settling on Avenue Matignon. Th ...

in 1901 and 1906, and Galerie Paul Rosenberg in 1908. Noted for their intense colours, Guillaumin's paintings are represented in major museums around the world. These include the Musée d’Orsay (48 works) and Petit Palais (91 works) in Paris, the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

in London, major museums in Germany, Russia, the Netherlands and Spain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Art Institute of Chicago, and many others in the U.S.A,, Canada, Israel and Japan. Private collectors, many of whom owned dozens of works, bought up his production through the 1920s. Noteworthy among these are Count Armand Doria, Dr. Paul Gachet, Théodore Duret,

Gustave Geffroy Gustave Geffroy (1 June 1855 – 4 April 1926) was a French journalist, art critic, historian and novelist. He was one of the ten founding members of the literary organisation Académie Goncourt in 1900. Geffroy is noted as one of the first histo ...

Louis Vauxcelles Louis Vauxcelles (born Louis Meyer; 1 January 187021 July 1943) was a French art critic. He is credited with coining the terms '' Fauvism'' (1905) and ''Cubism'' (1908). He used several pseudonyms in various publications: Pinturrichio, Vasari, ...

Tadamasa Hayashi was a Japanese art dealer who introduced traditional Japanese art such as ukiyo-e to Europe. Tadamasa was born to the Nagasaki family of physicians. When he was still a child, he was adopted into the Hayashi family, an upper-class samurai famil ...

, Sergei Shchukin,

Chester Dale Chester Dale (May 3, 1883 – December 16, 1962) was an American banker and patron of the arts. Dale earned large sums from working for the New York Stock Exchange, allowing him to collect 19th and 20th-century French paintings. Although he consi ...

and

Paul Mellon Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 1, 1999) was an American philanthropist and an owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall ...

Legacy

Guillaumin is best remembered for his

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 of Paris, the

Creuse Creuse (; oc, Cruesa or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the ea ...

département, and the area around

Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel (, literally ''Les Adrets of The Estérel''; oc, Leis Adrechs) is a commune in the department of Var in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region of southeastern France. It lies near Fréjus and Cannes, on the Esterel mas ...

near the Mediterranean coast in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pre ...

region of France. Guillaumin was called the leader of the École de Crozant, a diverse group of painters who came to depict the landscape in the region of the Creuse around the village of

Crozant Crozant (; oc, Crosenc) is a Communes of France, commune in the Creuse Departments of France, department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regions of France, region in France. Geography A tourism and farming village situated some northeast of Guéret, ...

. One of these depictions, titled ''Landscape in Crozant'', is housed in the Art Institute of Chicago. His bust is in the square near the village church in Crozant.

Death

Armand Guillaumin died in 1927 in Orly,

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

just south of Paris.

Gallery

File:Guillaumin Armand The Seine.jpg, ''The Seine,'' 1867 File:Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin 002.jpg, ''Landscape'', 1870 File:Armand Guillaumin - View of the Seine, Paris - Google Art Project.jpg, ''View of the Seine, Paris'', 1871, Oil on canvas, 126.4 × 181.3 cm.,

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Buil ...

File:Guillaumin SoleilCouchantAIvry.jpg, ''Sunset at Ivry (Soleil couchant à Ivry),'' 1873, 81 cm x 65 cm. Oil on canvas.

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 a ...

File:Guillaumin LaPlaceValhubert.jpg, ''La Place Valhubert,'' 1875 File:Armand Guillaumin - River Scene - Google Art Project.jpg, ''River Scene'', c. 1890 File:Les Pommiers à Damiette - Jean Baptiste Armand Guillaumin - ABDAG002355.jpg, Les Pommiers à Damiette, 1893,

Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...

File:Armand Guillaumin Les Meules.jpg, ''The Haystacks'', c. 1890-1895 File:Agay by Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin, Bass Museum of Art.jpg, ''Agay by Jean-Baptiste'' Armand Guillaumin, circa 1901 File:MuMA - Guillaumin - Paysage de neige à Crozant.JPG, ''Snowy landscape in Crozant'' File:'Landscape with Ruins' by Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin, 1897.JPG, ''Landscape with Ruins'', 1897 File:Paul Cézanne - Portrait de G - original-etching.jpg, Paul Cézanne, ''Guillaumin Thinking,'' 1873

References

External links

*
A biography of Armand Guillaumin.

www.armandguillaumin.net
a comprehensive study of the artist, his colleagues, exhibitions and collections
Armand Guillaumin Bio
- Findlay Galleries
www.armandguillaumin.org
260 works by Armand Guillaumin
www.comiteguillaumin.com
Authenticate a painting from Armand Guillaumin
''Impressionism: a centenary exhibition''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Guillaumin (p. 108-109)
''Signac, 1863-1935''
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Guillaumin (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillaumin, Armand 1841 births 1927 deaths Painters from Paris 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French Impressionist painters 20th-century French printmakers 19th-century French male artists