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
The Société littéraire des Goncourt (, ''Goncourt Literary Society''), usually called the Académie Goncourt (, Goncourt Academy), is a French literary organisation based in Paris. It was founded in 1882 by the French writer and publisher Edmo ...
in 1900.
Geffroy is noted as one of the first historians of the
Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific art philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined ...
with his publication of ''Histoire de l'impressionnisme'' in 1892.
He knew and championed
Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
, whom he met in 1886 in
Belle-Île-en-Mer while travelling for research on prisons of the
Second Empire. Monet introduced him to
Cézanne, who painted
his portrait in 1895.
He contributed to the newspaper ''
La Justice'' from 15 January 1880, and came to know its founder,
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...
, who in 1908 appointed him director of the
Gobelins tapestry factory, a position he held until his death.
Geffroy was born and died in Paris; he is interred at the
Cimetière de Montrouge. A street in Paris's
13th arrondissement, close to the
Gobelins Manufactory, bears his name.
Principal works
; Novels
*''Le Cœur et l'esprit'' (1894)
*'' L'apprentie'' (1904)
*''Hermine Gilquin'' (1907)
*''La Comédie bourgeoise'' (1922)
*''Cécile Pommier. (1) L'Éducation spirituelle (2) La Lutte des classes'' (2 volumes, 1923)
; Fine arts
*''Bernard Palissy'' (1881)
*''Le Statuaire Rodin'' (1889)
*''La Vie artistique'' (8 volumes, 1892–1903)
*''Rubens'' (1902)
*''Les Musées d'Europe'' (11 volumes, 1906–1908)
*''Claude Monet'' (1920)
*''René Lalique'' (1922)
*''Sisley'' (1923)
*preface to ''Auguste Brouet : catalogue de son œuvre gravé'' (2 volumes, 1923), a catalog of the etched work of
Auguste Brouet
*''Charles Meryon'' (1926)
*''Corot''
*''Daumier''
; History
*''Histoire de l'impressionnisme'' (1892)
*''L'Enfermé'' (1897)
*''La Bretagne'' (1905)
*''Clemenceau'' (1918)
*''Constantin Guys, l'historien du Second Empire'' (1920)
;Other
*''Notes d'un journaliste: vie, littérature, théâtre'' (1887)
*''Pays d'Ouest'' (1897)
*''Les Minutes parisiennes, 2 heures. La Cité et l'île Saint-Louis'' (1899)
*''L'Apprentie'', historical drama in 4 acts, Paris,
Théâtre de l'Odéon, 7 January 1908
*''Les Bateaux de Paris'' (1903)
*''Les Minutes parisiennes. 7 heures. Belleville'' (1903)
*''Images du jour et de la nuit'' (1924)
References
External links
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French journalists
French art historians
19th-century French novelists
20th-century French novelists
1855 births
1926 deaths
French male novelists
19th-century French male writers
20th-century French male writers
French male non-fiction writers
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