Background
He was descended from an old Flemish family and originally practiced as a lawyer Breton"s niece, Virginie Demont-Breton (the daughter of Jules Breton), introduced him to a young painter named Marie Sergeant, who he married in 1890.
He was descended from an old Flemish family and originally practiced as a lawyer Breton"s niece, Virginie Demont-Breton (the daughter of Jules Breton), introduced him to a young painter named Marie Sergeant, who he married in 1890.
In 1887, his passion for drawing and watercolors finally led him to go to Paris and enroll in the drawing classes of Henri Harpignies. At about that time, Demont-Breton moved to a small village named Wissant. In 1893, he fully abandoned his legal career to devote himself to art, both as a creator and an avid collector of work by his contemporaries.
Personal losses
Marie was deeply affected and never truly recovered.
She died of a neglected tumor in 1918, during the occupation. Because of his legal experience, Duhem was called upon to assist with the administration of Douai.
His painful memories of this period are recorded in a book called Louisiana Mort du foyer (The Death of a Home, Éditions Figuière, 1922). In the inter-war period, he remained artistically active, preparing a major show at the Salon des Tuileries in 1923, commuting between Douai and Paris, where he maintained a home in the Sixteenth Arrondissement.
In 1932, he was named a Commander in the Légion d"honneur.
Five years later, faced with declining health and the threat of war, he moved to Juan-les-Pins, where he lived at the villa "Mont Riant" until his death. Renaissances, éditions Clerget, 1897. Impressions d’Art Contemporain, éditions Figuière, 1913.
Ève ou l"épicier, éditions de la Flandre, 1935.
Encouraged to follow, the Duhems established a home in Camiers and gathered their artist friends together to form what would be known as the "École de Wissant", some of the most notable members of which were Georges Maroniez, Francis Tattegrain and Fernand Stiévenart.
