Robert Antoine Pinchon

Robert Antoine Pinchon (, 1 July 1886 in Rouen – 9 January 1943 in Bois-Guillaume) was a French Post-Impressionist landscape painter of the Rouen School (l'École de Rouen) who was born and spent most of his life in France. He was consistent throughout his career in his dedication to painting landscapes en plein air (i.e., outdoors). From the age of nineteen (1905 to 1907) he worked in a Fauve style but never deviated into Cubism, and, unlike others, never found that Post-Impressionism did not fulfill his artistic needs. Claude Monet referred to him as "a surprising touch in the service of a surprising eye".

Among his important works are a series of paintings of the River Seine, mostly around Rouen, and landscapes depicting places in or near Upper Normandy.

Early life

Robert Antoine Pinchon was born into an artistic and literary environment. His father, Robert Pinchon, a librarian, journalist, playwright and drama critic, was an intimate friend of Guy de Maupassant and also became a close protégé of Gustave Flaubert. Maupassant and Robert Pinchon (La Tôque, as they called him) co-wrote in 1875 a script for a play entitled Á la Feuille de Rose, Maison Turque, on the subject of eroticism and prostitution. The piece was presented officially on 15 May 1877 at the studio of Maurice Leloir, in front of Gustave Flaubert, Émile Zola, Ivan Turgenev and eight elegantly dressed masked women.

Since his son showed early signs of interest and aptitude in the arts, Robert Antoine's father purchased a box of oil paints and accompanied him on long Sunday painting walks. An 1898 photograph shows him painting at the age of twelve. He exhibited some of his first paintings in 1900 at fourteen years of age.

In 1900 Robert Antoine exhibited a painting in the storefront of a camera supply store owned by Dejonghe and Dumont in the rue de la République, one of the principal arteries of central Rouen. The art critic Georges Dubosc wrote an article about Pinchon's painting in Le Journal de Rouen (16 March 1900). Drawing classes at the Lycée were given by the stern and rigorous (1849–1915), who became assistant professor of the school in 1874. In 1879, Zacharie was named professor at the Académie de Peinture et de Dessin, which would later become the .

Career

1903–1914

In February 1903 Marcel Duchamps painted a portrait of his friend Robert Antoine Pinchon (reproduced in François Lespinasse, 2007, p. 18). From 15 June to 31 July, at the Salon Municipal des Beaux-arts de Rouen, Pinchon exhibited two paintings: La Lande à Petit-Couronne and La Seine à Croisset. The art critic Charles Hilbert Dufour wrote an article in which he makes favourable mention of the entries by Pinchon, who was still only 17.

Encouraged by Monet's praise, François Depeaux decided to take charge of the young artist's career; at first by purchasing several of Pinchon's works. This was the beginning of a relationship that would last until 1920.

In 1904 Pinchon designed the cover of a program for the Theatre Normand. The occasion was for a play by Guy de Maupassant. From 18 July to 18 September Pinchon exhibited, this time alongside Luce, Lebourg and Camoin, at the Casino de Dieppe. At the age of nineteen, while still a student at l'École des Beaux-Arts, he had his first major exhibition; at the Galerie Legrip, Rouen, 27 April–13 May 1905, with twenty-four paintings on display. Two articles in the press followed (La Dépêche de Rouen, 16 April, and Journal de Rouen, 28 April). Another art critic responding to the Salon d'Automne, Marcel Nicolle, wrote in the Journal de Rouen on 20 November that these works have "no relation to painting" and compared them to "the barbaric and naïve games of a child who plays with a box of colors". Of Pinchon's three paintings (Le Pont Transbordeur à Rouen, Le Pont de Boieldieu, à Rouen, Vieilles Cabanes dans l'Île Lacroix, à Rouen) he wrote: "Showing for his first time in Paris... the technique is a bit heavy, but we shouldn't be too severe toward a beginner, especially after what we saw elsewhere in the Salon". Though Pinchon had not exhibited in room VII with the fauves, his palette was already pure and his impasto thick. His paintings of this period are closely related to the Post-Impressionist and Fauvist styles, with golden yellows, incandescent blues, a thick impasto and larger brushstrokes. including Matisse, Derain, Dufy and Vlaminck contributing to the endeavor. Pinchon joined XXX that year. In parallel was the 5th and last exhibition of the Société Normande de la Peinture Moderne, which included works by Utrillo, Friesz, Guillaumin, Luce, Vlaminck and Pinchon. Meanwhile, works by Pinchon were shown again at the Galerie Legrip in Rouen.

During this difficult period, one of Pinchon's paintings (Le coteau d'Amfreville, près Rouen) was exhibited at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris, in a 1917 show dedicated to artists who had died in the war, prisoners of war, and those still in combat: Exposition des peintres aux Armées.

On a date that remains unknown, Pinchon was able to escape captivity. After passing through Switzerland, Italy, and a large section of France, he was able to reach his hometown of Rouen on 20 December 1918. At the same time, an exhibit was underway at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Pinchon was represented with four paintings, along with Bonnard, Boudin, Camoin, Cross, Guillaumin, Lebourg, Luce, Matisse, Monet, Signac and Vuillard. Pinchon was listed as a prisoner of war in the catalogue. Meanwhile, back in Rouen, another exhibit at Galerie Legrip was about to showcase his works.

A short time after the Galerie Reitlinger show, a book was published by Julia Pillore, alias Léon de Saint-Valéry, an art critic, Marcel Duchamp's godmother, Lucie Duchamp's stepsister, and wife of the painter Paulin Bertrand. Julia Pillore was one of the first women in France to earn a university degree in philosophy. The 1926 book is entitled Tendances d'art; les formes peintes, les impressionnistes, les classiques, les tourmentés et les aberrés volontaires. Just before examining the technique of Paul Signac, Léon de Saint-Valéry elucidates some interesting aspects of Pinchon's oeuvre:

M. Pinchon, who by certain aspects of his method seems to proceed from Monet and Guillaumin, has nonetheless a very personal conception of formal pictorial design that his approach rigorously defines. Imaginative and sensitive, he admits only the visual realities that stimulate sensation. He does not attach significant importance to forms determined by contour lines; these are, in his eyes, the motif upon which the harmonies of color and light are arranged.

M. Pinchon is foremost a painter impassioned by light. It is the intervention of light that modifies the architecture of the countryside and determines the colors. None of the colors 'theoretically' observed in nature are present in his paintings; rather, all of the tonalities result from the influence of reflected light. The predominance of this intangible element in his scenes communicates an intense impression of life. In his landscapes of Rouen and its environs, streets, squares, rivers, fields, riverbanks, or cliffs, nothing is immobile or absolute. Movement is everywhere present, expressed or suggested: the multitude of changing reflected tones diversify the water, clouds populate the sky unpredictably; the fugitive temporal coloration, together, observed from a unique vantage-point give the impression of ten entirely different landscapes that animate the vibrant roseate of dusk, the delicate violates of twilight, the emerald green of the passing breeze, the soft grays of morning, the nacre iridescence of winter. (Léon de Saint-Valéry, 1926)

On 1 July 1932, Pinchon was admitted to the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen. He donated a painting entitled "Quai à Croisset" to the academy for the occasion. Concurrently, at the Salon des artistes rouennais, Pinchon exhibited the large triptych he had painted for the Chamber of Commerce. Other artists represented at this show included Hubert Robert, Vernet, Cochin, Huet, Lepère, Monet, Lebourg and Martin. Pinchon was now President of the Salon des artistes rouennais.

1939–1943 With another World War looming, 1939 was the beginning of a difficult period, not just for Pinchon and other artists, but for the vast majority of the world's nations. Pinchon was deeply saddened by the human folly that would lead to such a turn of events. Neither he nor anyone else could have imagined the human loss and destruction that would be unleashed on Rouen. Yet despite the carnage that followed, hope and optimism had not entirely vanished. The 30th Salon des artistes rouennais went ahead as scheduled, with its opening on 19 May 1940; however, due to the gravity of the situation, it was closed two days later. The first bombardment of the city began on 5 June, followed by a mass exodus. On 8 June at 10:00 p.m. the first German tanks rolled in on la route de Neufchatel, very close to the Pinchon residence.

Robert-Antoine Pinchon died on 3 January 1943 in Bois-Guillaume, France, at the age of 56.

Honors Four streets in the Seine-Maritime region of Normandy are named in commemoration of Robert Antoine Pinchon: in Barentin, Bois-Guillaume, Le Mesnil-Esnard and Pavilly. A square in Rouen (district of Saint-Clément – Jardin-des-Plantes) also bears his name.

Paintings

Works in selected museums

Le Pont aux anglais, soleil couchant, (1905) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen Prairies inondées (Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, près de Rouen), (1905–06) Musée de Louviers, Eure Le coteau d'Amfreville, près Rouen (La carrière à mi-voie) (1908) Musée de Draguignan Effet de neige, (1909) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen Péniches dans la brume, (1909) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen Vue prise du mont Gargan, soleil couchant, (before 1909) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen Le Jardin maraicher, (ca 1921) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen Barque échouée, Saint Valéry en Caux (before 1927) Office national des Combustibles liquides, Paris Bord de Seine à Caumont (ca 1928–30) Musée Alfred Canel Le Port et le Pont transbordeur de Rouen, (1943) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen Le Pourquoi-Pas du commandant Charcot dans le port de Rouen (1935) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen

Works in selected public and private collections

La Lande à Petit-Couronne (1903) Les toits rouges (1903) Christie's New York, 2012 La Seine à Croisset (1903) Triel-sur-Seine, en aval de Paris, le pont ferroviaire sur la Seine Vers (1904) La Seine à Rouen au crépuscule (1905) Le Pont Transbordeur à Rouen (1905), Salon d'Automne 1905, no. 1253 Le Pont Boieldieu, à Rouen (1905), Salon d'Automne 1905, no. 1254 Vieilles Cabanes dans l'Île Lacroix, a Rouen (1905), Salon d'Automne 1905, no. 1255 Le Chemin, neige (1905) Coin de Seine à La Bouille or Restaurant champêtre de la Bouille (1906) La Seine vue de Belbeuf (1907) Le 14 Juillet, Place de la Basse Vieille Tour à Rouen (1908) Le Petit Train, côte Sainte-Catherine (1908-1909) Le Pont de chemin de fer près de Rouen (1910-1915) Christie's New York, 2008 Le vallon du temps perdu (1910) Le Bassin aux nymphéas (ca 1910) Péniches sur la Seine (ca 1910) Le Toquesac Aout (1912) Le talus de chemin de fer (1912) Fleurs des champs (ca 1915) Christie's New York, 2008 Pots de géraniums (ca 1915–1920) Le jardin aux iris (ca 1920) Christie's New York, 2008 Les chardons en fleurs (1920–25) A l'île aux cerises, Christie's New York, 2008 Rouen, vue de la Seine, Christie's New York, 2007 Dieppe et son port Chalands à Dieppedalle