ANDRÉ HAMBOURG

Author of a considerable production estimated at about 12,000 works, the marine painter, lithographer, draftsman and war correspondent André Hambourg developed a figurative art that found many sources of inspiration along the Côte Fleurie. The life of André Hambourg seems to merge with the 20th century. Born in 1909 in Paris, he painted the streets from his youth. He traveled extensively from his youth and brought back many preparatory drawings from his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts. He participated very early in various Salons, before winning the Abd-el-tif prize in 1933 which offered him his first stay in Algeria where he remained until the war years.
He was appointed war correspondent in January 1945, then official painter of the Navy in 1952, during which time he shared his life between his favorite subjects: the Normandy coast and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. These stays gave him a taste for light, which gave him a more personal and lively drawing style, unless it was the practice of sketching during the war. From the end of the 1940s, he felt the desire to represent others in a somewhat disordered agitation of which only the painter knows how to restore the unity.
In 1947 and 1948 André Hambourg had the opportunity, even before his official appointment as painter to the Navy, to embark on the Richelieu and sail the Mediterranean. He also worked on board the De Grasse in 1963 and the Colbert in 1966 in the eastern Mediterranean. Two campaigns aboard the helicopter carrier Jeanne d'Arc and its canister Commander Bourdais in 1983-84 and 1985-86 allowed him to travel around the world. Finally, to celebrate the centenary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, the Jeanne and the Boudais crossed the Atlantic to participate in the celebrations in New York, with André Hambourg on board.

 

ANDRE HAMBOURG AND DEAUVILLE
In 1982, the painter rented cabin 181 on the Deauville boardwalk, where he came to observe and paint the popular Deauville "away from the hustle and bustle of society, in a quiet place". Indeed, since his first stay in 1949, André HAMBOURG liked to settle on the sand or on the seashore to paint the Light of Deauville or Trouville. In 1965, he even organized a special Deauville exhibition at the Wally Findlay Gallery in New York.

 

SOME DATES
1937 : First stay in Honfleur.

 

1947 : Stayed in Honfleur and then in Saint Rémy de Provence, where he saved the olive tree field painted by Van Gogh. First mission at sea on board the Richelieu
thanks to Bizette-Lindet.

 

1976 : Normandy, creation of 5 mosaics for three schools in Deauville and Trouville.

 

1979 : Inauguration of the Hambourg room at the Trouville museum following a donation from the artist.

 

1988 : Inauguration at the Eugène Boudin Museum in Honfleur of the floor dedicated to the Hambourg - Rachet donation

 

2009: On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death, Philippe Augier, Mayor of Deauville, unveiled a plaque in tribute to the painter on cabin 181, which had become the "Cabin André Hambourg".

 

2011: Wishing to ensure the conservation, preservation and enhancement of her husband's works, Nicole Hambourg bequeathed to the City of Deauville 538 of her husband's oil paintings, done between 1925 and 1999. In receiving this donation, the City of Deauville has undertaken to open a museum in Deauville for the conservation and permanent and temporary exhibition of the works. The André Hambourg Museum will be housed in Les Franciscaines Monastery, a future place of conviviality and culture, scheduled to open in 2019.

 

2012 : A first exhibition is organized at the Centre International de Deauville with a hundred works.

 

2017 : Exhibition André Hambourg, Ombre & Lumière at Point de Vue in Deauville