Background
Boitel was born in Tillières-sur-avre, Haute-Normandie, France, on July 31, 1919. He was the son of a lawyer.
1940
Maurice Boitel in 1940.
1940
Maurice Boitel with the comrades.
1955
E. Thiollier, Ginette Rapp, R. Suillerot, Maurice Boitel and Louis Toffoli in 1955.
1970
On board the Clémenceau aircraft carrier with Admiral Midou and Gaston Sébire.
1970
With Jacques Chaban-Delmas.
1991
With François Baboulet and Alain Poher on February 9, 1991 (opening of the SNBA).
1994
At Michel-Henry's exhibition in November 1994.
1996
Maurice Boitel with Patrick Devedjian in 1996.
Portrait of Maurice Boitel.
14 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris, France
Maurice Boitel was the student of the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
Gisèle Alaux, Jean Carzou and Maurice Boitel at Comparisons April 7, 1995.
Maurice Boitel painting outside.
Maurice Boitel painting.
Maurice Boitel, Genevieve Joy, Henri Dutilleux and Elsie Joy.
On the Audresselles beach.
Young Maurice Boitel.
Boitel was born in Tillières-sur-avre, Haute-Normandie, France, on July 31, 1919. He was the son of a lawyer.
Maurice Boitel spent the first twelve years of his life in Burgundy, central France. It is in this beautiful province that he drew his deep love of nature. He showed promise as an artist from the age of five, later studying at the Beaux-Arts in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Amiens, where he lived for a few years, then Dijon. Later he moved to Paris, where he became the student of the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
Boitel had his own studio in the center of Paris, where between 1942 and 1943, during the German occupation, he hid Jewish refugees. Among them was the journalist Henry Jelinek. A great number of his artworks created from 1942 to 1946 were bought by a British collector and are still kept in London. Since 1946, he lived for two years in Algiers, Algeria.
On his return to France, he exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, at the Salon des Artistes Français, at the Salon d'Automne, as well as at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts and the Salon Comparaisons.
In 1949 he had a solo exhibition of his paintings of Algeria at the Elysée Gallery, Paris. In 1951 Boitel held one more exhibition at this gallery. Maurice Boitel also took part in a group exhibition at the Suillerot Gallery and theme exhibitions.
The artist's evolution continued during all his life: up to 1946 his painting was expressive; from 1946 to 1952, it was especially colorful; between 1952 and 1965 his landscapes were very constructed. Initially, he painted close to his home in Paris and Saint-Mandé and also the Cap Gris Nez, creating paintings of storms, boats on the beach, and ruins of the war. Maurice Boitel also painted such characters as clowns, poultry stockbreeders, sailors.
The artist presented a special exhibition at the René Drouet Gallery in Paris in 1958, where he presented biennial individual exhibitions for twenty years. From 1958 to 1965 Boitel painted in Cadaqués, Spain, every summer. It was always the same style, and he generally depicted landscapes, navy, portraits, and crowd on the beach. In 1963 he presented a collection of his artworks at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Starting from 1965, his artworks remained structured but contours disappeared. He produced many watercolours, in particular in Nice, in Italy and in Sancerrois. In 1966 he lived for some time in Portugal.
Maurice Boitel frequently visited the Cape Gris-Nez, in Audresselles, or in Ambazac, in the Limousin. The Paris area, where he usually resided, also inspired him a lot, especially Montmartre, islands of the Seine river, the Bois de Vincennes, the Marne, Guermantes and Conches-sur-Gondoire. During the 1980, he tended to evoke an idealized reality.
His most important solo exhibitions were held in the museums of the following towns: Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1976, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in 1977, Montbard in 1982, Montreuil-sur-Mer in 1993, etc. In the year 1999, President Jean Monneret and the Committee of the Salon des Indépendants of Paris invited Boitel to present a retrospective of his paintings.
Maurice Boitel was the guest of honour in several exhibitions of painting like: Rosny-sous-Bois (1980), Blois (1983), Wimereux (1984), Yvetot (1986), Alfortville (1987), Saumur (1987), Metz (1991), Tours (1992).
Alger
Noël au Noirda
Les Fleurs de l'été - champ à Slack
Tempête à Audresselles
Noirda beach
Le Pont des Arts
La Tour Eiffel et la rue de la manutention
Ambleteuse Baie de la Slack
Hôtel de la plage
Saint-Mandé
La route de Conches dans un village
Le Lac de Saint-Mandé
Le Panthéon et la Seine
Ambleteuse Fort Vauban
Alger, le Port
Eglise Saint Gervais
Portrait d'une Américaine
Côte d'Opale dunes au soleil couchant
Cadaques (Espagne)
Le port d'Alger, vu de la villa Abd-el-Tif
Le rocher à Cadaquès, Espagne
Le Jardin du Peintre a Conches (Tet Marne)
Cadaques (Espagne)
Champ sous la neige
Artist's Studio
Passage a Ker-Bossy
Cadaques, Espana
Barques de pêche à Audresselles
Couches Seine-et-Marne, la mare aux canards
Neige à Conches, neige en bric, set marne
Opstilling med blomster i vaser
Ferme à Crossas (Hte. Vienne)
Coastal village
Le Port d'Alger
Maison Aux Audresselles
Maurice Boitel was a member of the National Society of Fine Arts, and of the Comparisons.
Maurice Boitel married Marie-Lucie in 1946. The couple gave birth to one child.