Maurice Boitel

Background

Boitel was born in Tillières-sur-avre, Haute-Normandie, France, on July 31, 1919. He was the son of a lawyer.

Education

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.

Career

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).

Achievements

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  Maurice Boitel was a distinguished painter. He was a recipient of numerous awards and prizes. In 1946 he received the Abd-el-Tif prize; in 1958 the Robert Louis Antral award from the Town of Paris; in 1959 the Winsor & Newton (Paris-London) award; in 1963 the Puvis de Chavannes award, decreed by the National Society of Fine Arts; in 1966 - the Francis Smith award.
  
  Boitel was granted the French Artists Gold Medal and the Academy of Fine Arts decreed the Bastien Lepage Prize to him, both in 1968. In 1980 the Institute of France gave him the Dumas-Milliers award.
  
  Various other awards come to crown his career of painter, among which were the Grand-Prix of the General Council of Seine-et-Marne, 1974; the Prize Roger Deverin watercolour decided by the Taylor Foundation 1984. In 2003, the members of the National Society of Fine Arts (Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts) gave the Gold Medal to him.
  
  The municipality of Paris named after him the walk which surrounds the lake Daumesnil in 2014 and the municipality of Audresselles named the path which lines the English Channel in 2008. Some other municipalities gave the name of Maurice Boitel to a street or a monument.
  
  The council of Ambazac, Haute-Vienne, named after Maurice Boitel the city hall square. The inauguration took place on August 11, 2017. The town council ordered the reproduction on canvas of ten pictures of the painter, for decorating the town buildings. They have been exhibited in the townhall from August 1 to October 15, 2017.
  
  Art experts from Great Britain, United States, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Brazil, Iran, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Venezuela, Mexico, etc., acquired many paintings, as well as the French State and the Town of Paris. Some of his artworks may be found in museums of the following towns: Dijon, Sceaux, St-Maur des fossés, Valence, Constantine, Algiers, Béjaïa, and in French embassies around the world.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • 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

Membership

Maurice Boitel was a member of the National Society of Fine Arts, and of the Comparisons.

Connections

Maurice Boitel married Marie-Lucie in 1946. The couple gave birth to one child.

Spouse:

Marie-Lucie Boitel

Friend:

Bernard Buffet

Bernard Buffet was a French Expressionist painter. Best known for his representational work, Buffet's paintings are often figurative, graphic, and central in their compositions.

Friend:

André Hambourg

André Hambourg (1909-1999) was a French impressionist painter, whose numerous works have earned international acclaim.

References

• Dictionary of Artists Edition in English.
  2006