Simon Simon-Auguste

Born in Marseille, Simon-Auguste was the son of Antonin Auguste, a cabinetmaker specialised in restoring furniture in the chateaux of the Provence.

His mother, Antoinette Rossage, was originally from the Savoie (France). The couple had plenty children.

Simon studied at the École communale of his neighborhood at rue Eydoux, in Marseille, where he excelled in design.

In 1923 he started working in the Clérissy ceramic factory in Saint-Jean-du-Désert as an interior designer trainee. He later worked painting religious statues and making dolls at a workshop.

Since 1923 he took evening classes at the Marseille school of fine arts (the director was Henri Brémond). [2]

In 1929 he was encouraged to pursue singing at the Music conservatory under Figarella. This only lasted a year. Also in 1929 he was exempt to do the military service for his bad health.

In 1931 Simon-Auguste finished his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts and won the “Stanislas-Torrents” award. He was commissioned to execute the mural decorations of the town hall in Allauch. He began exhibiting in Marseille where doctors and lawyers purchased his paintings.

In 1932 he invested into a 6-month stay in Paris where he frequented the Louvre and became specially interested in the Camondo Collection. At the invitation of art dealer Adolphe Basler, he took part in the “Moins de trente ans” exhibition, at the Galerie de Sèvres, along with Jacques Despierre, André Hambourg, Louis Dideron, Léon Couturier, among others. He presented a nude, a still life, and a view of the Jardin du Luxembourg. He also started dealing with Georges Petit and the Galerie Vildrac.

In 1933 Simon-Auguste had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Detailles, at the Canebière in Marseille. He displayed 40 pieces (paintings, watercolours and sketches), mostly nudes and genre scenes. This exhibition contributed to his success.

In 1934 he married a philosophy student who would become a journalist under the pseudonym of Michele Seurière. For his second solo exhibition at the Galerie Detailles a few landscapes and marines were added to his portfolio.

In 1935 he took part in a group exhibition (with Moïse Kisling, Jacques Thevenet and Auguste Chabaud) at the Galerie du Radeau, quai de Rive-Neuve, with three nudes.

In 1936 he presented drawings and goaches at the Galerie du Cours-Mirabeau, in Aix-en-Provence. The subjects evolved to local fiestas, popular scenes, and the zoo garden. He also helped illustrate “Les Taches d’Encre”, by Léon Cadenel,[3] with a Chinese ink design of a Provençal landscape.

In 1937 he painted a panel of 250 x 80 cm for the École d’Istres, the title being "Les Salins-de-Giraud", and 5 other panels (3 of 3 x 2 m and 2 of 2 x 1 m) for the Château-Gombert school about "Les jeux des enfants".

In 1938 he exhibited 25 paintings and 5 drawings (nudes, flowers, and landscapes) at the Galerie Ymo, Marseille. Scenes involving locals and children which became very successful appeared at this time. Among these, we find “La fillette au bol” and "Tête d'Enfant", which were purchased by the Musée Longchamp, Marseille.

It was 1939 when he could afford to move to Paris. The family settled at 38 rue de Malte and Simon-Auguste started submitting his work to the Salon d'Automne, Salon des Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps, and other major exhibitions.

At the outbreak of World War II, he was on holiday in Auvergne. In 1940, he was mobilised but within two months had to retreat to Ussel, forced by his ill health.

In 1941 he reconverted a rented farm into his atelier. This year and again in 1943 he exhibited at the Galerie Camus, Avenue Blatin, in Clearmont-Ferrand. His portfolio included still lifes, flowers and local peasants.

Simon-Auguste returned to Paris after the Liberation in 1944, to take part for the first time in the Nationale with “La Fillette aux Pommes”.

In 1945 he contributed with 30 pieces to an exhibition at the Galerie Lhote, La Rochelle. He further presented “Femme se coiffant” at the Nationale.

In 1946 he exhibited “Tête d’Enfant” and “Nu sur un Canapé” at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants.

Up to 1947 Simon-Auguste signed his paintings with fountain pen ink. Afterwards, he used brush oil. In general, he tended to sign on the lower right corner.

He took part in the Salon d’Automne and at the Salon des Tuileries in 1948, the same year of his first solo exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie Bénézit, Boulevard Haussmann, and another contribution at the Galerie Lhote, in La Rochelle.

He exhibited a portrait of two clowns about to speak with “Le Cirque” group at the Galerie Le Verseau, and presented a landscape of Villiers-sur-Morin, where he had spent the previous 3 Summer holidays.

The city of Paris acquired his “Marine de La Rochelle”. The Musée du Château de Sceaux acquired "Paysage de l'Ille-de-France".

In 1949 Simon-Auguste exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, Galerie Saint Placide, Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Tuileries, where he exhibited “La Femme au Gilet rouge”. His “Quatre Points Cardinaux” was shown at the Galerie Doucet, and “La Vie en rose” at the Galerie Le Verseau.

This year marks his travels around Italy: Rome, Florence, Siena, San-Giminiano, Venice, Milan.

In 1950 he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne. He was appointed member at the Salon d’Automne. At the Galerie Allard, he joined “Groupe des Dix” with “Tête d’Enfant” and “Femme mettant ses Bas”. He submitted “Le Café du Commerce” to the Grand Prix de la Peinture Contemporaine, at the Marsan Pavilion (Louvre Museum).

In 1951 he exhibited 20 paintings at the Galerie des Saussaies, that show the influence of Impressionism. He was leaving behind nudes and landscapes in favour of still lifes, peasants and children where the primary elements are intimacy and simplicity.

He contributed to an itinerant exhibition around Switzerland (Bern, Lausanne and Geneva) about “Les fleurs et les fruits”.

He submitted “Le Bal à l’Auberge” to the Salon des Artistes Indépendants; and “Au Café” to the Salon d’Automne.

In 1952 he exhibited his children, nudes and flowers at the Galerie Allard, which clearly shows his personal aesthetic style. The French state acquired “La Fillette à la lampe”. He submitted “Deux Fillettes jouant au Jeu de Dames” to the Salon des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps and “La Cour de Ferme” to the Salon d’Automne.

In 1953 “L’Enfant aux Fruits” was submitted to the Salon des Artistes Indépendants. He also sent some paintings to the Salon du dessin et de la peinture à l'eau.

Simon-Auguste took part in the group exhibition about “Les Filles” at the Galerie Monique de Groote. He was also invited to take part in another group exhibition in Bourges. The French state acquired “Nature morte aux Bleuets”. In October 1953 he provided 20 paintings to his solo exhibition at the Galerie Mirador.

In 1954 he sent “La Fillette au Damier” to the Salon d’Automne.

In 1955 the theme of the Salon des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps was “Le Bonheur”. His “Comme un Poisson dans l’Eau” was acquired by the French State.

In June 1955 he exhibited 20 paintings at the Galerie Jacquet, Bourges. He took part in the annual exhibition of the Salon des artistes honfleurais, and in a group exhibition about “Le Taureau” (the bull) at the Galerie Breteau. [4]

In October 1955 he presented 20 recent paintings at the Galerie Saint-Placide. [5] He exhibited here again in 1957.

He produced a noted portrait of French writer and critic Paul Léautaud in 1956.

In 1959 he contributed to the art exhibitions at the Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat, in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and to the Galerie 65, in Cannes.

In 1959 and 1960 he joined Jean Cocteau and others in an exhibition at the Galerie Recio, then located at 25 Rue de la Boétie, in Paris.

In 1960 he exhibited his creations at the Galerie de Presbourg.

In 1964 he submitted "Nature morte au fleurs bleu" to the Biennale de peinture of Menton.

Simon-Auguste died in Roanne in May 1987.

• Journalist Micheline Sandrel in “Lettres et Médecins”:

“You teach us to see better what lies around us, Simon-Auguste, for you instruct us in silence and its harmonies, and in that tenderness, which resembles silence.”

• Painter and art critic Raymond Charmet in “Arts Magazine”:

“Simon-Auguste’s work strikes us by the unity and stylistic mastery which this intelligent and strong-willed painter has succeeded in achieving. The major problems of art are approached and resolved with remarkable determination: that of composition, clear and rigorous; that of line, clean and pure, as in the work of the Primitives; that of color, at once striking in its vibrant blues and subtlety refined, harmonized.”

• French art critic, journalist, and art historian Raymond Cogniat in “Le Figaro”:

“...The moving sensitivity of this artist. In blue surroundings, female subjects described in peaceful colors assume attitudes of calm and repose; an art of silence and meditation whose delicacy is very winning.”

“I love silence and the sweetness of the daily routine, the simple language of familiar objects, the profound individual glory, the enthusiasm of meditation.”

“I want to escape the modern myth of cosmos, the geometry of the arbitrary and the factual, to translate the balance, density, purity and tenderness of the human figure, its delicate shapes, and to know this inner world deeper than interstellar spaces.”

• 1951 Paysage près de Villiers-sur-Morin, oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm, Musée du Domaine départemental de Sceaux.

• 1956 Portrait of Paul Léautaud (1872-1956), writer, at his house in de Fontenay-aux-Roses, oil on canvas 89 x 116.5 cm, Musée Carnavalet.

• "Nature morte aux poires"

• "L'écoliere"

• "Fleurs variées"

• "Fillette à l'ardoise"

• "La partie de carte"

• "Le modèle"

• "Fille au bouquet"

• "Nu"

• "Fleurs des champs"

• "Le rendez-vous"

• Simon Simon-Auguste in Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0199773787.

• Le Peintre N° 151 : Simon Auguste - Beaux arts - 15/10/1957

• Simon-Auguste, Galerie Yves Jaubert, Paris, 1969.

• Jean-Albert Cartier: Documents. Encyclopédie Générale des Beaux-Arts aux XIXe et XXe siècles, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, architectes, décorateurs, etc. "Simon-Auguste 1909". École Française Nº 13. Éditions Pierre Cailler, Genève. Imprimé en Suisse. Octobre 1955.

• Michelle Seurière: "Simon-Auguste". Jean Grassin Éditeur, 1962.