Background
Angrand was born in Criquetot-sur-Ouville, Normandy, France, on April 19, 1854. He was the son of Charles P. Angrand, a schoolmaster, and his wife Marie.
45 Boulevard des Batignolles, 75008 Paris, France
Lycée Chaptal.
Angrand was born in Criquetot-sur-Ouville, Normandy, France, on April 19, 1854. He was the son of Charles P. Angrand, a schoolmaster, and his wife Marie.
Charles Angrand received his art education at Académie de Peinture et de Dessin in Rouen. Angrand also tried to enroll in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, but he was rejected.
Angrand visited Paris for the first time in 1875. There he saw a retrospective of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's works at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. This artist greatly influenced Angrand's early paintings. In 1882 he moved to Paris and became a math teacher at the Collège Chaptal in Paris. He lived near Café d'Athènes, Café Guerbois, Le Chat Noir, and other establishments frequently visited by artists. In Paris he became friends with such celebrities as Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross. Like his friends, he devoted much time to studying optical effects, the division of tone, and analyzed color and light. Angrand made many pleine-air studies, worked with Seurat on the Island of Grande Jatte, painted landscapes and views of Parisian suburbs, using the pointillist technique.
In 1884 James Angrand became a founding member of the Salon des Indépendants, along with Seurat, Signac, Odilon Redon, and others. Throughout the 1880s, the artist painted rural subjects and street scenes. Due to Angrand's interactions with Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in the mid-1880s, his style evolved towards Neo-Impressionism. In 1887 his first Divisionist painting, L'Accident, was shown at the Salon des Indépendants. In 1889 Angrand participated in the exhibition of Belgium avant-garde group Les Vingt in Brussels.
The unexpected death of his friend Georges Seurat in 1891 was a great shock for James Angrand. In 1896 he moved to Normandy and led a solitary life there. He even stopped painting for some time.
Up to 1900 his painting of form became increasingly pointillist, as he set for experimenting with big rectangular brush-strokes. Later James Angrand returned to a traditional technique with simple forms. The artist participated in the Salon des Indépendants in different periods until his death.
The Harvesters
The Seine at Dawn
Self-Portrait
Path in the Country
The Western Railway at its Exit from Paris
Le Petit Port
The Guardian of Turkeys
Hay Ricks in Normandy
The Harvest
Couple in the street
The Little Farm
Mère embrassant son enfant
Un Accident
Maternite
La lessive
Maternite
Enfant lisant
Maisons dans un paysage
Paysage à la chèvre
Fin de moisson
Les commérages
Flusspartie mit Segelbooten
Portrait de Maria (La soeur de l'artiste)
Le triomphe des moissonneurs
Mère et son enfant dans les bras
Meule de foin
Baby Sleeping
City and Country
Feeding the chickens
In the Garden
Le Pont de Pierre, Rouen
Mother Sewing
My Mother
The Seine at Courbevoie
The Woodcutter
James Angrand supported Anarchism. He took part in illustrating Anarchist publications and helped them financially.
Quotes from others about the person
Paul Signac: "His [Charles Angrand's] drawings are masterpieces. It would be impossible to imagine a better use of white and black... These are the most beautiful drawings, poems of light, of fine composition and execution."