Jean Bouchaud - Women In Algiers

Jean BOUCHAUD (1891-1977)
Arab women, Algiers
Gouache, signed lower left.
Label with the title on the back.
33 x 24cm.

Jean Bouchaud will not only be one of the most famous painters of the French colonies, but also one of the most subtle in his art. From 1920, he traveled Morocco on horseback in fellah's clothes. He failed at the Prix de Rome, but was appointed in 1921 to the villa Abd-el-Tif in Algiers, at the same time as Jean Launois. From this time must date our gouache, whose models were perhaps recruited from the staff of the villa. In 1922, he obtained the grand artistic prize of Algeria and triumphed at the Colonial Exhibition in Marseille. Then he left for Indochina and received on his return a gold medal from the Salon of French Artists. In 1931, Lyautey appointed him to the artistic direction of the Colonial Exhibition and Bouchaud created 1,344 square meters of fresco in the City of Information, to the glory of the French colonial Empire. In 1939, it was up to him to create a large decor in the French pavilion at the New York International Exhibition. In 1951, he was made a member of the Institute. He died in 1977, covered in medals and ribbons, but somewhat forgotten. His immense work is being rediscovered.