Roger Chapelet

Roger Chapelet (born in Versailles on September 25, 1903, died in Montpon-Ménestérol on June 30, 1995) was a French marine painter and poster artist. Of Périgord origin, he discovered the maritime world when he boarded the Rollon in 1927, where his brother was a radio operator, in the port of Marseille. This is the beginning of his career as a maritime painter. He will then do a whole series of paintings in different ports: Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam. He embarked for the first time in 1929 to discover other horizons then he embarked on sailboats to paint the fishing campaigns on the banks of Newfoundland and Greenland. In the 1930s, he became the poster artist for the main French maritime companies and in 1936 was appointed painter to the Navy and was a member of the Académie de Marine. During the Second World War, he served between 1939 and 1940 on transatlantic convoys, then between 1942 and 1945 as a naval commissioner in the Mediterranean, then in Indochina in 1946, while continuing to paint various theaters of operations and naval battles. Returning to civilian life after the war, he was the poster artist for several ocean liner companies: Compagnie de navigation mixte, Paquet, Transatlantique, Fraissinet, etc. Along with Marin-Marie and Albert Brenet, he is considered one of the three great French marine painters of the 20th century. An exhibition is dedicated to him at the National Maritime Museum from October 8, 1993 to December 5, 1994.