Pierre Dubreuil and Hans G�tt: two pupils of Henri Matisse
While most of Henri Matisse's close relationships with other artists were as friend and colleague, sharing ideas and going on joint painting expeditions (for instance in Collioure with Derain in 1906, in Tangier with Marquet and Camoin in 1912, in La Goulette with �tienne Bouchaud in 1926), he also had various formal and informal master-pupil relationships. Most notably, between 1908 and 1912 he ran the Acad�mie Matisse. Many of the students there were Scandinavian, of whom the stars were Sigrid Hjert�n, Isaac Gr�newald and Per Krohg, but there were also Americans (Max Weber, Alfred Maurer), Germans (Hans Purrmann) and even Britons (Matthew Smith). At this time Matisse had much more respect internationally than he commanded at home, and there was a notable lack of French students at the Acad�mie Matisse. One young French artist who did attend was Pierre Dubreuil. I'm prompted to write about him because of the almost simultaneous acquisition of his engraving Sarah la baigneuse, and the etching Schlafendes M�dchen by Hans G�tt. Two sensuous reclining nudes, both resonating with Matisse's vision of an art of luxe, calme, et volupt�. G�tt was not a student at the Acad�mie Matisse, but instead benefited from informal lessons in Matisse's atelier in 1919.
Pierre Dubreuil was born in Quimper, Brittany, in 1891. After initial studies in Vannes, and three months at the �cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Dubreuil entered the Acad�mie Matisse in 1908, and remained there until Matisse dissolved the school in spring 1912. His artistic career was stalled by World War One. First military service and then war mobilization stole seven years from his artistic development. Dubreuil did not exhibit until 1921, after which he was a regular at the Salons des Artistes Ind�pendants, d'Automne, and des Tuileries. As a printmaker, his preferred medium was the copper engraving, though he also produced drypoints, etchings, and wood engravings. He was president of the Soci�t� des Peintres-Graveurs Fran�ais, and a member of the Peintres-Graveurs Ind�pendants.
As well as painting and printmaking, Pierre Dubreuil painted murals and designed tapestries, and illustrated a number of books, including works by Restif de la Bretonne, Paul Val�ry, Hugues Rebell, and Henri de Regnier. Alongside Matisse, he contributed original prints to the two great collaborative livres d'artiste of the 1930s and 40s, Paris 1937 and Alternance.
Pierre Dubreuil died in Paris in 1970. In 1991 J.-P. Zingg published the first monograph on his work, Pierre Dubreuil. Female bathers were one of his most consistent themes, culminating in a series of paintings between 1941 and 1957 of nude bathers discreetly shadowed beneath trees.
Hans G�tt (sometimes spelled Hanns G�tt) was born in 1883. He is known as a painter of women, especially nudes and intimate portraits in domestic settings. This is not surprising as, after studying at the Munich Academy, Hans G�tt went to Paris in 1919 to study in the atelier of Henri Matisse, whose work remained a strong influence on G�tt's art.
Pierre Dubreuil, Sarah la baigneuse
Engraving, 1930
Pierre Dubreuil was born in Quimper, Brittany, in 1891. After initial studies in Vannes, and three months at the �cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Dubreuil entered the Acad�mie Matisse in 1908, and remained there until Matisse dissolved the school in spring 1912. His artistic career was stalled by World War One. First military service and then war mobilization stole seven years from his artistic development. Dubreuil did not exhibit until 1921, after which he was a regular at the Salons des Artistes Ind�pendants, d'Automne, and des Tuileries. As a printmaker, his preferred medium was the copper engraving, though he also produced drypoints, etchings, and wood engravings. He was president of the Soci�t� des Peintres-Graveurs Fran�ais, and a member of the Peintres-Graveurs Ind�pendants.
Pierre Dubreuil, On n'est pas heureux qu'avec une bonne femme
Engraving, 1930
As well as painting and printmaking, Pierre Dubreuil painted murals and designed tapestries, and illustrated a number of books, including works by Restif de la Bretonne, Paul Val�ry, Hugues Rebell, and Henri de Regnier. Alongside Matisse, he contributed original prints to the two great collaborative livres d'artiste of the 1930s and 40s, Paris 1937 and Alternance.
Pierre Dubreuil, La Double Ma�tresse
Wood engraving, 1930
In 1944 Dubreuil illustrated La Nichina, a novel by the dissolute Hugues Rebell about a sixteenth-century Venetian courtisan, with numerous engravings. The book was published in a fairly large edition of 970 copies, of which 930 were on v�lin de Rives, and 40 on verg� de Hollande. The 40 on Hollande laid paper also had a supplementary suite of the engravings, printed in sanguine on china paper. The engravings were printed by Paul Haasen.
Pierre Dubreuil, La Nichina (reclining)
Engraving, 1944
Examples in sanguine on chine and in black on verg� de Hollande
Pierre Dubreuil, Venice, Campanile di San Marco
Engraving, 1944
Pierre Dubreuil, Venice
Engraving, 1944
Pierre Dubreuil, Au soleil levant
Engraving, 1944
Pierre Dubreuil, Filles d�guis�es en page
Engraving, 1944
Pierre Dubreuil died in Paris in 1970. In 1991 J.-P. Zingg published the first monograph on his work, Pierre Dubreuil. Female bathers were one of his most consistent themes, culminating in a series of paintings between 1941 and 1957 of nude bathers discreetly shadowed beneath trees.
Hans G�tt, Schlafendes M�dchen
Etching, 1924
Hans G�tt (sometimes spelled Hanns G�tt) was born in 1883. He is known as a painter of women, especially nudes and intimate portraits in domestic settings. This is not surprising as, after studying at the Munich Academy, Hans G�tt went to Paris in 1919 to study in the atelier of Henri Matisse, whose work remained a strong influence on G�tt's art.
Hans G�tt, Ars Amatoria I (Romulus with a Sabine woman)
Lithograph, 1920
Hans G�tt, Ars Amatoria II (Pasiphae and the bull)
Lithograph, 1920
Hans G�tt, Ars Amatoria IV (Daedalus and Icarus)
Lithograph, 1920
Hans G�tt, Ars Amatoria VII (Lovers)
Lithograph, 1920
Hans G�tt, Remedia Amoris II (Phyllis)
Lithograph, 1920
As a printmaker, Hans G�tt worked in both etching and lithography. Among his lithographs are ten made for an edition of Ovid's Ars Amatoria published in 1920; on the title page the artist is credited as Hanns G�tt. These witty lithographs show the influence of Matisse's line, though in my view they are too much in thrall to line, and make poor use of lithography's tonal effects. It's as if the artist was expecting to illustrate the text in etching. Hans G�tt lived and worked in Munich, and died in 1973.
