- Georges Gimel
Georges Gimel born March 8 , 1898 atDomène (Isère),France ;died January 21 , 1962 atMegève (Haute-Savoie),France .French painter of portraits, landscapes, mountain landscapes, still lifes and flowers.He was also wood carver, lithographer, illustrator, set designer, sculptor, and inventif enamel painter.Biography
Gimel lived at Domène and at
Grenoble , where he studied at the Ecole des Arts Industriels, until the age of 16 at which time he moved toParis . Gimel stayed in Paris for 20 years; thereafter he split his time between Megève,Annecy , Grenoble and Paris. He took part in both: theFirst World War and theSecond World War .In 1916 he studied at the
Écoles des Beaux-Arts of Paris, at the Studio ofJean-Paul Laurens and at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs. After the war in 1919 he returned at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, at the Studio ofJean-Antoine Injalbert and at the same time he will become a pupil of theAcadémie Julian and also worked together with his warfriend the sculptor Henri-Louis Bouchard. Gimel was the artistic director of the literary review Tentatives with Henri Petiot (Daniel Rops) for a special edition dedicated toStendhal . He created numerous wood carvings, of which the portrait ofDéodat de Séverac was owned by the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.He took part in the
Salons d'Automne and the Indépendants from 1921 until 1934. Gimel created the largest painting of the Salon d’Automne in 1927:” La cuillette des amandes”.His talent was noticed very early on by Andry Farcy, Conservateur du Musée de Grenoble, who supported the “Peintres Modernes” and by the art critic
Félix Fénéon .Gimel’s lithographs sought after by collectors are composed of up to 12 colors. He worked as well on various works of portraiture as painting: winterlandscapes, bathers, sportsfigures, flowers and marines. His lifelike charaterizations and colors reflected himself.
An artistic dynamo, he linked the schools of beaux arts and commercial/artistic design: He created fabric designs for clothing designers
Paul Poiret andJean Patou .In Paris ,numerous exhibitions at the Art Gallery’s:Galerie Bernheim-Jeune , Galerie Bignou, Galerie Kleinmann, Galerie Berri-Raspail, Galerie Charpentier, GalerieKatia Granoff , gained him world-wide recognition.In 1930, Gimel began to create immense frescoes such as the one at the principal office of the Société des Chaux et Ciment Lafarge a Paris.In 1933 he created a Station of the Cross which was controversial because of its modernism. His religious frescoes were exhibited at the Galerie Jean Charpentier, as well as the lithographs for Station of the Cross with an introduction by
Léon Daudet in the EditionsJeanne-Bucher , in January of 1934. One of this works will be owned by the Vatican and another by the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris. Gimel’s work belongs to the school of religious art led byGeorges Desvallières andMaurice Denis .Architect Henry Jacques Le Même designed his chalet " La Fresque " at Megève and Gimel decorated the façades with avant-garde frescoes.
In 1937 Gimel took part in the Exposition Universelle de Paris and there he created the interior design for the Pavillon du Dauphiné.
At the end of World War II in 1944, his book Le Calvaire de la Résistance of pen and ink drawings of war scenes was published, some of which scenes had been exhibited at the Galerie Katia Granoff in Paris in April of 1940.
Following this, he devoted himself to his art and to the making of his enamels where his genius allowed him to combine technical and practical aspects to create an indestructible form of enamel painting.In 1949, he exhibited 91 enamel works at the Art Gallery Bernheim Jeune in Paris. Later, thanks to the Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, several of his enamels were sent abroad to
Rome (Italy) andSaarbrücken , (Germany) others were part of a traveling exhibition in the United States who started at theYale University Art Gallery in 1954.In 1956 Gimel created his Stations of the Cross in enamel for the church Jean-Baptiste at Megève. He also was asked by the Rotary-club des Alpes de Haute-Provence for a major conference on the subject of enamels, assisted by his friend
Jean Giono .On January 21, 1962, a sunny Sunday, he died suddenly while ice skating with a young woman at the skating rink at Megève.Illustrated works
*Dévigne, Roger (1921), "Janot le jeune hommes aux ailes d'or". Paris: L'Encrier.
*Coeuroy, André (1921), "Musiciens". Paris: Nouvel Essor.
*Faure, Gabriel (1922), "Printemps". Paris: R.Chiberre.
*Voragine, Jacques de (1922), "Sainte Agnès". Paris: Nouvel Essor.
*Hervieu, Louise (1924), "l'Âme du cirque". Paris: Librairie de France.
*Gimel, Georges en Petiot, Henry (1924), "Stendhal ". Chambéry: Tentatives.
*Gimel, Georges (1933), "Chemin de Croix". Paris: Jeanne Bucher.
*Gimel, Georges (1944), "Le Calvaire de la Résistance". Grenoble: Didier et Richard.Bibliography
*Bénézit, Dictionnaire des peintres...,t.V,p.7.
*Edouard-Joseph, Dictionnaire biographique des artistes contemporains, 1910-1930.
*Marlin Warmé, (2005), Gimel 1898-1962. Annecy: Doc'Factory. ISBN 2-9524879-0-1
Online Resources
* [http://www.patrimoine-de-france.org/oeuvres/richesses-96-26863-178098-P214051-431989.html "Carnaval à Saint-Hilaire"]
* [http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b77222451/f5.item Déodat de Séverac (1872-1921) op Catalogue Bn-Opale plus]
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