Robert Deborne (; 22 July 1870 – 27 July 1944), was a French Post-Impressionist painter born in Viviers, in 1870. He focused on painting landscapes of Viviers and the surrounding countryside as well as Nebbio, in
Corsica
Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
. Deborne is best remembered for his
Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...
works, and his contribution to
Fauvism
Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...
.
Personal life
Deborne was born in 1870 in Viviers, France to Robert François Abel Deborne and Clémence Barruol. His father was a wealthy landowner and this provided him with the financial security to concentrate on painting.
Little is known about Deborne's childhood. He attended school in Lyon before marrying and moving to
Meudon
Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in 1900. In 1903 he exhibited in The Paris Salon and, in 1905, the Salon d'Automne. Deborne and his wife had two children before they divorced in 1923. He died in his studio in
Ardèche
Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche (river), Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Cézanne, and he exhibited with Cézanne on at least two occasions: in the 1905 Salon d'Automne. 3e Exposition, and the 1906 Salon d'Automne. 4e Exposition.
Deborne exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1905, the year when the press coined the then rather disparaging term of Fauves (French for ‘wild beasts’) to describe artists using strong, separate, unnatural colours in a representational manner, moving away from the realism of
impressionism
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 ...
. The phrase stuck and the new movement of
Fauvism
Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...
was recognised, of which Deborne was certainly a part and influenced by.
Friendship with Signac
In 1928, the President of the
Salon des Indépendants
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name i ...
asked Deborne to find housing in
Bourg-Saint-Andéol
Bourg-Saint-Andéol (; ) is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Rhône Valley in southern France.
Geography
It lies directly along the river Rhône at the southeast end of the department south of the smaller town Viviers, from P ...
, and then in Viviers for
Paul Signac
Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism.
Biography
Paul-Victor-Jules Signac was born in Paris on ...
. The two painters would meet and paint together on the banks of the Rhône. Signac and Deborne went on to exhibit together on several occasions at the .
Gallery
File:Deborne.-Hilltop-Tower-1024x778.jpg, Hilltop Tower by Robert Deborne
File:Deborne Church.jpg, Deborne Painting of Church
File:Deborne Country Road unframed.jpg, Country Lane