Background
Vollon was born the son of an ornamental craftsman in Lyon, France.
Vollon was born the son of an ornamental craftsman in Lyon, France.
He began an apprenticeship to an engraver, and studied under Jehan Georges Vibert at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon to become a printmaker.
During his lifetime, Vollon was a successful celebrity, enjoyed an excellent reputation, and was called a "painter"s painter". In 2004, New York"s then-PaceWildenstein gallery suggested that his "place in the history of French painting has still not been properly assessed". He taught himself to paint.
He then worked at decorating enamelled pans and stoves.
In 1860 he and Marie-Fanny Boucher married and later had two children, Alexis and Marguerite. In 1859 he moved to Paris, with the intention of becoming a painter.
There he became a student of Théodule Ribot and was influenced by Dutch still life painters of the 17th century. Vollon once described himself as a young artist "madly in love with painting".
Vollon aspired to paint figures and not only still lifes which were the lowest acceptable genre for the Salon.
However it was criticised by Édouard Manet, who unleashed a few words, in English: Bah! What is Vollon"s Femme? A basket that walks (French: Bah! un panier qui marche) which stigmatized lieutenant According to Carol Forman Tabler, curator and professor of art who wrote her dissertation on Vollon, writing for Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide: Wildenstein showed more than 70 works by Vollon in Manhattan in 2004. Foreign The New York Times, a reviewer wrote, "Vollon smacks too much of other artists to be Truly Important, but his sensuous wallows in paint are well worth wider notice".
But an earlier reviewer for the same newspaper quotes a critic writing in 1883, "He is, perhaps, the greatest painter living.." Two streets in France are named for him: Rue Antoine Vollon in Bessancourt and in Paris, whilst an intersection with a fountain in Lyon is named Place Antoine Vollon.
Carol Forman Tabler wrote: Tabler describes his ambition and the decades-long strategies Vollon used to secure a place in history. After one year in the Salon des Refusés in 1863, beginning in 1864 he exhibited his work at the Paris Salon. Vollon won a third-class medal in 1865, a second-class in 1868, and first-class in 1869. Vollon was a member of the Salon"s jury for at least ten years starting in 1870. He became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1870 and eight years later, received the Officer"s cross. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1897. In 1900 he was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris World"s Fair. In July 1900 he had a stroke while painting at Versailles and later caught a fever. He died in August and is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Vollon was a member of the Salon"s jury for at least ten years starting in 1870.
