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surprising....One trembles to see him taking such risks, yet he never makes a false step....He is a poet of hope, not of despair. Yet his optimism is not sentimental or sweet. It is robust and daring. But because behind his romantic elegance there is a hard, classic structure, these paintings will endure. They are as gay as a jewelled necklace, but as firmly constructed as the safe that contains it.
309:: "Cézanne came. And with the invincible obstinacy of a modest French bourgeois gifted with genius, he gave to the painting of today the gamut of its duties. He scared darkness away, and rebuilt the Pictural Universe on colored planes—those planes it should never have left." De Botton also took inspiration from
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was that is abstractions were not easily made coherent in dance...the depiction of grandiose themes too often sank into obvious trivialization or curious abstractions." One critic at least was entertained, writing that "Satan...triumphed in the matter of providing excitement and holding interest, for
667:
Elgar p. 8 gives the number of burned paintings as two hundred and fifty; in the same book, Eric Newton, p. 25, and Hans
Widrich, p. 32, both say three hundred and fifty. The phrase "destroys his entire past production" is an exaggeration, as some of de Botton's works before 1933 have survived, such
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who had painted many of them, definitively renounced the portrait and the female nude. When he is not executing imaginary landscapes and still lifes, it is from music, about which he is passionate, that he looks for his inspiration. And since music is, in essence, a subjective and abstract art, that
130:...When he returns to his Paris studio, the artist destroys his entire past production, burning about three hundred and fifty pictures. On a blank page he starts the new period of crystallization, which is characterized by the lack of any trace of romanticism in conception as well as in technique.
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hitherto undiscovered harmonies of color...a complex chord of colour that takes incredible risks and yet is always triumphant. Jean de Botton can dance on the very edge of the precipice with his daring juxtapositions of colour that are never simple, never obvious, always gay, yet always a little
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with a full orchestra and fifty dancers. De Botton designed the costumes and backdrops and wrote the libretto, an homage to the shared values of
America and France, "couched...in abstract language and high-flown rhetoric," with dancers portraying archetypes including "Man, Woman, the Child Hope,
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Blindness prevented him from painting after 1973. He died in 1978 in New York City. He once said, "Painting is the language that allows us to talk to the hereafter." And also: "Death is anxiety only when it interrupts the work. It becomes welcome when you have nothing more to say."
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In 1931 he made his first trip to
Portugal, where he studied Portuguese ceramics. In 1933 he made his first trip to Italy, where he returned on a yearly basis. His second trip in 1933 was a critical watershed in his artistic career, as his "untarnished adoration" of
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Quoted in Elgar, p. 52: "La peinture est le langage qui nous permet de nous entretenir avec l'au-delĂ ." And also: "La Mort n'est une anxiĂ©tĂ© que lorsqu'elle interrompt les recherches. Elle devient la bienvenue lorsqu'on n'a plus rien Ă
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In the 1950s and 1960s de Botton became an international artist, with exhibitions in the United States including
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Phoenix, Atlanta, Fort Worth, Palm Beach, Dallas, the
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in Paris. The success of the auction "pays homage to the painter and restores the artist to the height of his notoriety," and the "portrait presents itself more than ever as a manifesto of freedom, still relevant today."
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Satan, and personifications of the forces of good and evil...Wartime shortages cramped the production's style," diminishing the grand theatrical effects conceived by de Botton. "But the greatest weakness of
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under official patronage of the French government. The success of this show led to his Royal invitation the next year to be the only foreign painter to attend the coronation of King
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Gallery in Paris in 1956, followed the next year by a major exhibition at the
Knoedler Gallery in New York, and thereafter spent half of each year in Paris and half in New York.
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Elgar, p. 11: "Aware of his duties as a French citizen, Jean de Botton undertook, to serve his country, a series of lectures in
American museums and the various branches of the
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rejects imitation and description, it is logical that the canvases that proceed from it are anti-naturalist, that they draw the viewer into the realm of dreams and fantasy.
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for France; whether such a role was assigned to him officially is unclear. In New York, he met with other artists and intellectuals who had fled France, including
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Capping his goodwill tour of the States, de Botton illustrated and authored (in both
English and French) a children's book published in San Francisco in 1945,
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in an official capacity and to paint numerous of the participants as well as "a canvas, thirty-foot long, depicting scenes of the coronation...to be placed in
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was also in San
Francisco in the early 1940s and collected work by de Botton. De Botton made several paintings depicting views of the city and of
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After the war, de Botton remained in the United States and became a naturalized citizen. He returned to France with a retrospective at the
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December 9, 1939, p. 2, lists de Botton among the artists in uniform whose work was included in the "Mobilized Artists" exhibit at the
240:. His palette, muffled by the English grayness, warms up, his color rises several registers, his impasto is impregnated with sensuality."
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in 1931, among 2,750 works it was the "cynosure for all eyes." The timing of the 2021 auction took advantage of a flurry of interest in
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Jean de Botton, Retrospective: Paintings, Frescoes, Murals, Drawings, Tapestries, Stage
Settings, Ballets, Book Illustrations
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museum, an institution with close cultural ties to France, staged a major exhibit, resulting in the illustrated catalogue
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305:, calling for a return to the primacy of color over the contrasts of light and shadow and extolling the achievement of
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584:, auctioned by Ader at Drouot in Paris for EUR 179,200 (including fees). When the painting was first shown at the
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In 1938 he made his first trip to the United States, showing studies for his depictions of the coronation at the
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Demobilized in Morocco in 1940, he traveled to New York and then across the United States, acting as a
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in the French press as she was about to be honored by the symbolic reburial of her remains at the
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the handsome and agile demon...directed one of the most wondrous orgies ever staged at the
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His later work, which de Botton called "Humanized Abstraction," was showcased in the book
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Returning to England, de Botton began work on a monumental Royal commission to be titled
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An auction record for a work by de Botton was set in 2021 by the nude portrait
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102:, becoming a member and serving on the Jury in 1929. He also exhibited at the
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His parents intended a diplomatic career for him, but in 1920 he entered the
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Galleries in New York and arranged for a series of exhibits at galleries in
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In 1924 he made his first trip to Spain, where he studied the work of
921:"Fall Salon at Grand Palais Crowded as Parisians View 2,750 Canvases"
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in which de Botton denounced the course of European paintings since
80:. De Botton's father remarked, "I have two children and a painter!"
938:"179,200 € Pour le Portrait Inédit de Joséphine Baker aux Enchères"
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In 1936 he made his first trip to England, leading the exhibition
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Dictionnaire des artistes de langue française en Amérique du Nord
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Bénézit, E., et al. "Botton, Jean Isy de" entry (pp. 948-949) in
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Botton, Jean de, illustrations and text in French and English.
394:, the story of a French poodle whose travels mirrored his own.
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Museums and public collections holding his works included the
50:, received a degree in philosophy, and was a pupil of author
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History of Sailing Through the Ages: From Slavery to Sports.
1017:, Musée du Québec, Les Presses de L'Université Laval, 1992.
297:, "Chiaroscuro Killed Painting," an artistic manifesto and
69:. He studied fresco painting and worked as an assistant to
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Photo of Jean de Botton with Alma de Bretteville Spreckels
730:"Mobilized Artists' Work Shown at Galerie Bernheim Jeune"
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and the sumptuous contrasts of tones that had so seduced
672:, which set an auction record for the artist in 2021.
433:"What makes de Botton important," the British critic
424:(1968). In these later works, Elgar wrote, de Botton,
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Revue littéraire, artistique, théâtrale et sportive
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Two drawings by de Botton depicting Josephine Baker
638:"Mon père disait: J'ai deux enfants et un peintre!"
350:In San Francisco he also painted the 12-by-25 foot
1130:, biography and chronology at www.tewgalleries.com
1034:The Christensen Brothers: An American Dance Epic
1036:, Australia: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998.
361:Less successful was his collaboration with the
163:Also in 1937, he painted fresco murals for the
134:In 1932 he was appointed Chef d'Atelier at the
220:began and de Botton hastened back to France.
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345:San Francisco from Ernest Hemingway's Window
293:was a lecture delivered by de Botton at the
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212:as well as throughout the country and the
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811:Depuis la fenĂŞtre de M. Ernest Hemingway
224:World War II; de Botton in San Francisco
1047:(Paris), December, 1931, pp. 6–13.
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228:He enlisted as a private and served in
46:. In Paris he studied classics at the
1027:"Jean de Botton, an Abstract Painter"
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1011:"Botton, Jean Isy de" entry (p. 104)
1123:Centre national des arts plastiques
1112:Centre national des arts plastiques
994:"Le Clair-obscur a tué la Peinture"
523:Centre national des arts plastiques
1118:Voiles et rames à travers les âges
513:at Versailles, and, in Paris, the
295:San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
126:realize the triumph of Color over
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1144:Union List of Artist Names Online
1136:, biography at haninafinearts.com
551:(in 1969), vice-president of the
1110:(1935) by Jean de Botton at the
458:His paintings were collected by
1079:Smithsonian American Art Museum
998:"RĂ©flexions par Jean de Botton,
487:Smithsonian American Art Museum
94:From 1925, he exhibited at the
112:Salon des artistes décorateurs
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838:Jean de Botton, Retrospective
765:Jean de Botton, Retrospective
717:Jean de Botton, Retrospective
682:"News of Americans in Europe"
668:as his 1931 nude portrait of
656:Jean de Botton, Retrospective
625:Jean de Botton, Retrospective
511:Musée de l'Histoire de France
358:holding a set of blueprints.
284:Jean de Botton: Retrospective
61:. He studied sculpture under
59:École des Beaux-Arts de Paris
1101:Musée National d'Art Moderne
1062:San Francisco Public Library
1032:Sowell, Debra Hickenlooper.
1000:" Paris: Georges Fall, 1968.
925:International Herald Tribune
842:San Francisco Public Library
734:International Herald Tribune
686:International Herald Tribune
519:Musée National d'Art Moderne
206:King George VI and His Court
181:. He also exhibited at the
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1134:Jean de Botton (1898-1978)
1128:Jean de Botton (1898-1978)
1090:Metropolitan Museum of Art
540:, workshop manager of the
491:Metropolitan Museum of Art
278:were especially fruitful.
274:His two extended stays in
167:in Paris, under the theme
38:Education and early career
1107:Portrait de Jules Romains
1099:by Jean de Botton at the
1088:by Jean de Botton at the
1077:by Jean de Botton at the
1041:"Le Salon d'Automne 1931"
983:Fou Fou Discovers America
688:, October 28, 1937, p. 4.
392:Fou Fou Discovers America
30:; died June 13, 1978, in
16:French artist (1898–1978)
375:War Memorial Opera House
22:(born June 20, 1898, in
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555:, and president of the
175:British Empire Building
978:, vol. 2, GrĂĽnd, 2006.
538:Salon des Indépendants
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96:Salon des Indépendants
42:His parents were from
976:Dictionary of Artists
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572:Auction record: 1931
557:Salon France Nouvelle
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120:Piero della Francesca
1060:, collection of the
944:. November 19, 2021.
865:Sowell, pp. 218-219.
363:San Francisco Ballet
108:Salon des humoristes
1068:Enchanted Landscape
563:Blindness and death
542:Académie Montmontre
534:Salon des Tuileries
515:Musée du Luxembourg
449:University of Maine
380:The Triumph of Hope
367:The Triumph of Hope
280:The Legion of Honor
245:goodwill ambassador
136:Académie Montmontre
104:Salon des Tuileries
65:and painting under
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503:High Museum of Art
499:Phoenix Art Museum
464:Queen Elizabeth II
453:Adelphi University
398:After World War II
373:and staged at the
369:, set to music by
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179:Rockefeller Center
165:Musée de la Marine
20:Jean Isy de Botton
1085:Rhythm of Flowers
1039:Turpin, Georges.
874:Elgar, pp. 7, 25.
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468:Winston Churchill
341:San Francisco Bay
183:Carroll Carstairs
63:Antoine Bourdelle
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435:Eric Newton
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415:Frank Elgar
404:Wildenstein
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846:photograph
817:artnet.com
728:The story
601:References
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327:primitives
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234:Delacroix
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319:Gauguin
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