Eugène Chigot (1860-1923) The Pig Keeper

Rural life in the North of France in the 19th century, this peasant pig herder seems to have come out of an Italian miserabilist film testifying to a harsh living condition, but imbued with truth and a certain nobility.
A light, subtle and impressionist touch reveals despite the monotony of this humid and marshy landscape a certain romanticism sublimated by the richness and smoothness of the brushstrokes of a blazing sky at the end of the day.
The work, done in oil on wood panel, is offered in a beautiful Louis XIV style gilded frame which measures 44 cm by 49 cm and 27 cm by 31 cm for the painting alone.
In very good condition, the work is signed and dated 1889 lower right.

In 1872, he entered the Notre-Dame des Dunes college in Dunkirk, where he met Henri Le Sidaner, with whom he became friends.
Not wishing to continue his studies, he returned to Valenciennes and trained in painting in the studio of his father, himself a painter.
It was Alfred Roll who, passing through Valenciennes and seeing one of his paintings, convinced his father to send him to Paris. In 1881, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Alexandre Cabanel, as well as Paul Vayson and Léon Bonnat.
There, he obtained the 1st medal for sketching.
Joining his friend Henri Le Sidaner and the Étaples school of painters in Étaples, Eugène Chigot settled there in 1887.
There, he founded a sort of studio that would become a school, called Villa des Roses.
He remained there for about twenty years, spending time in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage. Receiving a scholarship, Eugène Chigot then made a series of long trips that took him to Spain, where he stayed during 1887, to Italy and Holland.
In 1891, he was appointed official painter to the Ministry of the Navy.
In 1892, having just been elected municipal councilor of the commune of Étaples, he decided to organize a painting exhibition under the high patronage of Léon Bourgeois, Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts.
It brings together the works of 53 artists, the majority of whom come from the school of painters of Étaples, but alongside these painters, we find Joseph Bail, Pierre Billet, Eugène Boudin, Georges Cain, Adrien Demont, Henri Duhem and Marie Duhem, Georges Maroniez, Albert Siffait de Moncourt, Francis Tattegrain, Paul Vayson as well as the sculptors Marie Fresnaye de Marenla and Édouard Lormier.
This first exhibition is accompanied by numerous festivities.
With this exhibition, Eugène Chigot gave a tremendous boost to the colony of Étaples.
Subsequently, this exhibition takes place at Paris-Plage. In 1893, he settles in Berck.
There he produced Le Soir à Merlimont, which he sent to the Salon des artistes français in 1893. He returned to Étaples until 1895, then settled for three years in Paris-Plage, at the Villa Saint-Josse, on the corner of Rue de Paris and Rue de la Lune. In 1898, he left to live in Dunkirk for nearly five years. In 1903, he participated in the founding of the Salon d'Automne, where he was a member, and joined the Société des artistes français as a member of the committee and jury.
In 1908, he settled in Paris, at Rue de Bagneux, but divided his time between his Parisian studio and Petit-Fort-Philippe, on the banks of the Aa, where he had a seaside chalet built to paint.
Eugène Chigot was a great traveler, he painted many European ports, ships and coastlines.
Some of his paintings depart from the academic maritime theme to treat rural scenes, sometimes delicate, in an intimate and almost fauve style.
He died on July 14, 1923 in Paris.
The Salon d'Automne of that same year paid tribute to him with a retrospective.
He is buried in the Saint-Roch cemetery in Valenciennes in the presence of Félix-Alexandre Desruelles and his lifelong friend, Henri Le Sidaner.
In 2023, on the occasion of the centenary of his death, the Musée de la Marine and the "Maison du port départemental" in Étaples presented the exhibition "Eugène Chigot, Painter of the Opal Coast" which took place from June 24 to December 31, 2023.
Art exhibition
Salon of French Artists Eugène Chigot was admitted to the Salon of French Artists in 1883 with two watercolors and a portrait of his father.
After settling in Étaples, he sent a 250 x 400 cm seascape entitled La Pêche Interruptée to the Salon in 1887, which received an honorable mention and earned him a travel grant.
Other works followed at the Salon, such as Evening Prayer (Lille Museum) in 1890; Stranding in Heavy Weather (Amiens Museum) in 1892; Evening at Merlimont in 1893; The Procession of Saint-Josse (Arras Museum) in 1896; and a presentation of war works in 1918. Until his death in 1923, he was present there with a total of around forty works exhibited at the Grand Palais.
Autumn SalonThe Salon of French Artists, recording a decline in notoriety around 1900, Eugène Chigot participated in the creation of the Autumn Salon in 1903, where he exhibited three paintings.
The Salon, located at the Grand Palais, was inaugurated in 1904, where he exhibited about ten paintings. He participated in the Salons of 1905, 1906, 1909 and 1913. He also exhibited at the Winter Salon of 1913 and 1914 with fourteen paintings.

Regional Salons and Exhibitions
Eugène Chigot participated in numerous regional Salons and private exhibitions such as those in Besançon, Douai, Dunkirk, Le Havre, Lille, Lyon, Mulhouse, Nantes, Roubaix and Rouen at the Georges Petit Gallery.
Like other great artists, in 1905, he offered a solo exhibition at the Georges Petit gallery, consisting of 55 paintings retracing his production. He returned there for group exhibitions in 1917, 1919 and 1920.
He also exhibited at the Rivaud gallery in 1903, at the Devambez gallery in 1910 and 1913 as well as at the Cercle Volney from 1911 to 1913.

Distinctions
Eugène Chigot was named a knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honour in 1895, then promoted to the rank of officer of the same order in 1912. He was made an officer of the academy in 1890.
Tribute To pay tribute to Eugène Chigot, the municipality of Étaples named a street after him: rue Eugène Chigot.

Works in the Public Collections

Étaples, Quentovic Museum of Étaples: Grounding in heavy weather, 1892, oil on canvas, 54 × 81 cm Sailboats in Canche Bay, oil on canvas, 54 × 65 cm The Mayor of Étaples, oil on canvas, 46 × 33 cm Evening Prayer, 1894, oil on canvas, 46 × 33 cm La Part-Dieu, 1896, acquired by the municipality in 2023,

Musée du Touquet-Paris-Plage - Édouard Champion: 9, rue de Bagneux (artist's house), 1909, oil on canvas, 65 × 100 cm, gift of Doctor Chigot; Portrait of a Sailor, 1887, oil on canvas; Fish sale on the beach, 1893, oil on canvas Fraipont, 1905. The Port of Calais, 1917. The Street of Bagneux, 1919.
Jean-François Louis Merlet, Eugène Chigot, painter, Paris, Société de L’édition Libre, 1910 Retrospective exhibition of the painter E. Chigot, from October 8 to 30, 1954, Musée Galliera, Paris, Hemmerle, Petit et Cie, 1954 Eugène Chigot, 1860-1923, London, Kaplan Gallery,
March 1964 Musée du Touquet-Paris-Plage - Édouard Champion and Marie-Françoise Bouttemy, Lumière d’Opale: The foreign painters of the colony of Étaples (1880-1920), Le Touquet-Paris-Plage,