A Charming Oil on Canvas of a the High Tide scene on a Deauville Beach by André Hambourg.
André Hambourg was a renowned French artist, who was born in Paris in 1909.
It was in middle school that his teachers spotted the young boy’s talent, where his drawings and watercolors were admired by all.
At the time, he drew inspiration from scenes from the Luxembourg Gardens, family scenes, and still lifes.
During a language course in Germany, he bought a box of paints and created his first oil painting.
Back in Paris, he enrolled at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratif, then in 1927, at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris in the studio of Lucien Simon.
At that time, his paintings were often austere and dark in tone.
Beginning in 1929, he participated in numerous Parisian exhibitions such as the Salon des Tuileries, the Salon des Indépendants, and the Salon d’Automne.
He also held his first exhibition in a Parisian gallery. The following year, he began traveling, discovering Brittany and then the South of France, which inspired him with its rich colors. Following this, his color palette was enriched with more vibrant hues.
In 1933, Hamburg was awarded the Villa Abd-el-Tif Prize, and set off to explore North Africa, where he remained until the outbreak of war. The intensity of the light and the vibrant colors would permanently change his painting style, his paintings becoming lighter and more dynamic.
After his military service, he joined the Resistance and then carried out illustrated reporting assignments for the Navy.
In 1945, appointed a war correspondent, he was assigned to the 1st Army and participated in the liberation of France in Alsace and Germany, as far as the “Eagle’s Nest of Berchtesgaden,” where he was commissioned by the American army to depict the building.
Deeply affected by the horrors of war and the loss of several family members, the gallery owners, and many friends, his painting lost its sources of color and light and fell back into the darkness of his early days.
He settled in Honfleur, where the changing skies of Normandy allowed him to rediscover his colors and light.
His passion reignited, he traveled frequently between the capital and Normandy, and in the late 1950s, began depicting the lively beaches of this region, Deauville, Trouville, etc., which he painted outdoors in all seasons.
From 1970 onward, Hambourg traveled extensively, to Africa, the USA, and Venice.
He painted frescoes for several buildings, including one for the European Court of Justice.
He Passed away in Paris in 1999.
André Hambourg is unclassifiable, associating himself with no movement or school, with his unique, instantly recognizable style, focused on the free spirit that animates his paintings.
Numerous exhibitions, both collective and solo, both French and international, have marked nearly 70 years of his career.
Today, his works are exhibited in more than 50 museums around the world.
This painting perfectly represents André Hamburg’s work: the beach at Deauville, animated by figures and sailboats.
An energetic and dynamic style that characterizes him during this period.
A well-balanced composition, with a beautiful summer sky slightly clouded over, revealing a storm front with orange hues in its center.
The horizon darkens, the sails are billowed by powerful gusts that stir the sea, releasing waves of foam onto the beach.
These plein-air works, created on location, require perfectly accomplished technical mastery.
There is no second thought here; the first gesture must be sure and achieve the desired precision.
It is interesting to note how the artist played with the thickness of the paint, allowing parts of the canvas to show through in places or using a thicker application to create an additional relief effect.
This work is reproduced on page 289 under reference PLD 370 – André Hambourg catalogue raisonné Volume II (Desgranschamps éditions)
Oil on canvas, signed lower right, countersigned and located on the back, in a gilt wood frame.
Unframed 10 3/4 X 14
Framed 19 X 22