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Charles Camoin
(1879-1965)
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Born in Marseille,
Charles Camoin lost his father at an early age and was
raised by his mother. Although she traveled often while
he was a child, Camoin’s artistic training did not
suffer. He was able to begin his studies at sixteen at
the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Marseille. During this time
Camoin was also attending the Ecole de Commerce. He
would later transfer to the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in
Paris where he studied under Gustave Moreau in 1898.
Shortly thereafter, Moreau died. While he was not able
to benefit greatly from Moreau’s teachings because of
his death, Camoin was able to make many friends in the
art world, especially with Fauvist painters like Manguin,
Marquet as well as Matisse. |
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The Open Window
Flowers and
Fruits
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Camoin found immediate
success, even as a student, and actually was able to
finance his studies by selling his work and from winning
panting competitions. He painted beautiful still life
compositions, focusing on color in Post-Expressionistic
and Fauvist styles, and worked in a variety of other
genres as well. Although he is generally considered a
Fauvist painter, Camoin never truly committed to one
style or another. Camoin held his first exhibition at
the age of twenty-five at Bert Weil in Paris and also
showed at the Salon d’Automne many times from 1905 on
through the rest of his career. |
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La Petite Lina, 1907
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While he was still a
student, Camoin had a short-lived friendship with
Cezanne. He was stationed in Provence during his
military service in 1902 was able to study under this
great master for three months. Cezanne became a great
influence in his work. Sadly, Cezanne died in 1906, and
Camoin was only able to learn from him for a short
while. To a lesser extent, Camoin was also influence by
Renoir whom he met in 1918. This meeting helped him to
transition out of Fauvism and into a softer
post-Impressionist style. |
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Bois Due Bologne 1909 Provence
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Camoin was highly
active during the early 1900s and traveled and worked
constantly. In 1905, he joined many of his artist
friends in the south of France to study the
Mediterranean coastline. Therefore, many of his
paintings during this time have a “Cote d’Azure” feeling
or theme. |
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Port de Cassis
St. Tropez
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He would eventually
keep one studio in St. Tropez and one in Montmarte, and
devoted himself to painting nudes, portraits, still
life, landscapes and harbor views. |
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Terasse a St. Tropez
Minaret a Tanger, 1913
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In 1955, Camoin would
become an officer of the Legion of Honour, an esteemed
award for any artist. He also won the Grand Prize of
Italy in that same year. In his lifetime, his work was
exhibited all over France as well as in Chicago and New
York. This makes the possibility for both European and
American art collectors to own his work very great. |
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Nude
Le Petit Rhone, 1930
Femme Blonde au Chapeau
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While he typically
worked in oil paintings, Camoin also often created chalk
and pastel sketches. Many of his works are also signed
“Ch. Camoin” conspicuously on the front lower left or
right hand corner of his compositions. |
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Pin Parasol Aix En Provence
This painting clearly shows a sample of Camoin’s
signature on the lower left hand corner, and is a
heavily Fauvist piece.
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Today, Camoin’s work
is housed all through Europe in venues like the Berlin
National Gallery and the Bonn Museum in Germany and at
Grosvenor Gallery and the Stern Pissaro Gallery in
London. His work is also housed at the Alger Museum, and
throughout France at the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, the
Des Beaux-Arts Museum and the National Museum of Art.
Camoin died in 1965 in Paris, and worked nearly up until
his death. |
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La Passerelle de Chatou, 1962 |
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