André Dauchez “ploaré” Brittany

André Dauchez, born May 17, 1870 in Paris, the city where he died on May 15, 1948, is a French painter, etcher, designer, illustrator and photographer. André Eugène Marie René Dauchez was born on May 17, 1870 in the 7th arrondissement of Paris to lawyer Fernand Dauchez and Claire Thirial. He married on April 25, 1898 in Paris with Marie-Thérèse Le Lièpvre, daughter of the painter Maurice Le Lièpvre (1848-1897), and with whom he had 8 children. André Dauchez's older sister, herself a painter, Jeanne Dauchez (1869-1949), married in 1890 with the painter Lucien Simon (1861-1945). André Dauchez died on May 15, 1948 in his home in the 7th arrondissement of Paris and was buried in the Seine-Port cemetery (Seine-et-Marne). André Dauchez participated for the first time in 1897 at the Salon des artistes français. He frequented the studio of Luc-Olivier Merson (1846-1920) between the years 1887 and 1890. In 1896, André Dauchez became a member of the Société nationale des beaux-arts; he became a member of the Committee in 1922, then President from 1931, succeeding Jean-Louis Forain. In 1900, he received the silver medal at the Universal Exhibition. He was named knight of the Legion of Honor in 1911, then officer in 1932. He was promoted to official painter of the navy in 1922. He was also a founding member and elected president of the Independent National Salon in 1938. During the 1900s, he is part, with among others Lucien Simon, Edmond Aman-Jean, Charles Cottet, George Desvallières, Maurice Denis, of a group of young painters nicknamed the "Black Band" by art critics because they reject the light canvases of the neo -impressionists. In June 1899, Gabriel Mourey counted him among the founding members of the New Society of Painters and Sculptors founded under the aegis of the Georges Petit gallery André Dauchez went to Brittany at a very young age and more particularly to the mouth of the Odet river . From 1890, the Dauchez family visited Bénodet and in 1893 they moved into the house of Kergaït which was located not far from the entrance to the estuary. These summer periods of the Dauchez family will decide the pictorial and maritime vocation for André, especially since his brother-in-law, Lucien Simon, also a painter, cohabited in this house until the end of the 19th century. At the southern tip of Loctudy, slightly overhanging the sea, André Dauchez had a house built, a house recognizable by its two towers, one of which would become his workshop. From 1903, every summer, the house-workshop of Palue du Cosquer, in the Larvor district (between Lesconil and Loctudy) became the artistic crucible of this painter, talented draftsman and remarkable etcher. “André Dauchez began, like everyone else in his time, with reproduction engravings, quickly gave up on the advice of Lucien Simon, and, since 1894, devoted himself to the representation of his beloved Brittany, especially that of the surroundings of Bénodet , where he had his house and his boat” André Dauchez was described as a painter of wind and estuaries, his personality asserted itself in the execution of the landscapes which dominate his work. Seasides, estuaries and ports are very present in his work. His knowledge of the maritime environment is flawless, he is a true sailor who sailed and discovered the shores approaching them by sea. André Dauchez had several boats with which he liked to discover new horizons, both on the Atlantic side and on the Channel side. Let us mention “La Rose des Vents”, a 20 m tuna boat designed for pleasure, built in 1912, and composed of a crew of six professional sailors commanded by Captain Lagadec. He then had a yacht of around twelve meters, “the Great Bear”. Let us also mention “l’Embellie”, “Narval”, “l’Aventure”. André Dauchez was purely a landscaper, the human figure often being absent from his landscapes. He handled graphite with perfection, and in his drawings there are no retouches. Above all, he was a remarkable engraver, author of nearly four hundred engravings; he also illustrated several books with a lot of poetry, in numbered luxury editions, such as: “Le foyer breton: Tales and popular stories” by Emile Souvestre, “Le livre de l'Emeraude” by André Suarès, “La sea in the woods” by André Chevrillon which relates a boat trip on the Odet. Let us also mention his splendid and touching illustrations for the tale of Paul de Musset: “Monsieur le Vent et Madame la Pluie”. Plaque in Loctudy A street in Loctudy is named in his honor.