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Albert Andre was a
painter, writer and curator. Born in Lyon, he began his
artistic career working on design projects for the silk
makers of Lyon. He then moved to Paris where he studied
Industrial Design for three years. His artist dreams
were not fulfilled doing this, and he left to study in
the Julian Academy in Paris. Louis Valtat and Maurice
Denis were pupils at the same time.
A pivotal point in his life was when he exhibited in the
Salon des Independents in 1894. It was there that his
work was admired by Auguste Renoir and on the
recommendation of Renoir the famous art dealer Paul
Durand- Ruel bought a number of his canvases. From 1805
to 190I he exhibited in many salons. Paul Durand-Ruel
also organized an exhibition in his gallery featuring
solely the work of Albert Andre. |
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He became great
friends with Auguste Renoir and his other friends
included the most successful painters of the day such as
Paul Signac and Claude Monet. Albert Andre quickly
became part of the Post Impressionism movement. As early
as 1912 he had an exhibition in New York.
He had spent childhood holidays in a family house in a
town in Provence called Laudan, which was set in
vineyards, and it was there that he was to return after
the First World War. He tended to paint in his studio
from memory as did many of his friends who formed part
of the Impressionist movement and Laudon was his
inspiration for many paintings.
In 1917 he took on the job of the Curator of the Museum
of Bagnols sur Ceze which was started by the artist Leon
Algre. His role was to turn it into a Museum of Modern
and Contemporary Art and he was helped in this with
donations of paintings from his many artist friends. |
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It must not be
forgotten that Albert Andre was also a talented writer
and in 1918 he wrote a Monograph on Renoir, the only one
to be produced by a Frenchman during Renoir’s life. He
also published works on Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet.
He also contributed to the literary journal of the day
‘La Revue Blanche’, which was a monthly magazine which
published contemporary and avant-garde literature and
political comment.
He organized a retrospective of his friend Renoir’s
paintings in 1921 and sadly in 1923 the Museum of which
Albert Andre was a Curator was badly destroyed by a
fire. Luckily, friends such as Monet, Bonnard, Valvat
and Signac came to the rescue providing him with
canvases to fill the Museum with.
He lovingly looked after the museum till the end of his
days whilst continuing to paint and write. He died, just
before there was a retrospective of his work in France.
In 1954 the Salon D’Autome in Paris carried out another
retrospective of his work. |
