Biography of François DESNOYER
September 30, 1894 :
Birth of François Desnoyer in Montauban.
1910 :
Meeting with the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle who encourages him to pursue an artistic career.
1913 :
He goes to Paris and joins the Decorative Art School.
Parallel, he follows the Antoine Bourdelle art courses in the Gobelins Manufactory class.
1914-1918 :
He is recruited during the First World War, he was wounded three times and taken prisoner.
He obtains the Croix de guerre.
During this period he draws a lot.
1919 :
He goes back to Montauban and starts painting again.
1921 :
He registers a second time to the Decorative Art School. He starts exposing at the Salon d’Automne.
July 17, 1922 :
Wedding with Jeanne Camille Blanc. He settles at 35 Tournefort Street in Paris.
He becomes a drawing teacher in local authorities in the Paris suburbs.
1924 :
He wins the Blumenthal Prize and begins to exhibit at the Salon des Indépendants.
1925 :
He participates in the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts - Black Africa Pavilion.
1927 :
He divorces.
Suicide of his father.
1929-1930 :
He visits Italy and Spain.
1932 :
He mets Suza Hannouche during a trip in Czechoslovakia.
April 29, 1933 :
Wedding with Suza.
He visits Austria and Slovakia.
1937 :
He is appointed professor at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris.
He participates in the International Paris Exhibition.
1938 :
He exhibits 60 paintings sold for the benefit of Czech refugees.
He mets George Besson and Albert Marquet.
1939 :
Exhibition "Bilan 38" at the Elysée Gallery in Paris.
March 24, 1940 :
He is recruited in Montauban until July 16 then he returns to Paris.
1942 :
He mets Marcel Guiot who becomes his seller.
Exhibition "Young painters of French tradition" at the Braun Gallery.
He realizes a large wall decoration for the village hall of the Town Hall of Cachan.
1943 :
Reopening of the National Museum of Modern Art.
1945 :
First visit to Sète at the invitation of Jean Vilar.
1946 :
He exhibits and teaches for the Anglo-French Center in London.
He exhibits at the Salon de Mai.
1947 :
Suza Desnoyer settles in Sète.
1948 :
He visits Algeria where he works in the Marquet workshop.
1949 :
He wins the Grand Prize for contemporary painting with "Les plaisirs de la plage" (“The pleasures of the beach”).
1950 :
He retires and joins his wife in Sète.
He participates in the group’s exhibitions "Montpellier - Sète".
Beginning of the travelling exhibition in the museums of France.
1952 :
He becomes an official painter of the navy.
As such, he makes a trip aboard the "Richelieu".
He participates in the Venice Biennale with Raoul Dufy and Fernand Léger.
1953 - 1955 :
He visits Holland and exhibits there.
1957 :
Three weeks trip to Greece.
1960 :
Retrospective of his works during the Salon d’Automne.
1963 :
He performs "Le Printemps" (“Spring”) for the entrance hall of the Lycée Mas de Tesse in Montpellier.
First visit to Saint-Cyprien and first event of the artistic foundation.
1964 :
He goes to Japan to participate in the 5th Tokyo Figurative Art Fair.
He visits India and Hong Kong.
1965 :
Exhibition in Saint-Cyprien on the occasion of the Inauguration of the Town Hall.
1967 :
Exhibition of "Cent portraits de Desnoyer" at the Musée Bourdelle in Paris.
1968 :
Exhibition "Fifty years of painting" at the Ingres Museum in Montauban.
July 21, 1972 :
Death of François Desnoyer in Saint-Cyprien.
Exhibition of one hundred works by Desnoyer at the Saint-Denis Museum.
June 27, 1975 :
Inauguration of the François Desnoyer Foundation in Saint-Cyprien.
Excerpt from Anne Hugon-Jaylet’s Thesis, "François Desnoyer".
Catalogue of the painted work in French public collections.