| Welcome to Heinley Fine Arts Ltd. Your Personal Consultants in 19th Century French Paintings |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
JEAN-BAPTISTE ANTOINE GUILLEMET was the most successful French landscapist of the last quarter of the
nineteenth-century. A friend of many of the Impressionists and intimate of the great novelist Emile Zola,
Guillemet chose to continue exhibiting within the Salon system when his colleagues began their program of
independent exhibition. In dramatic views of Parisian quais and industrial suburbs or storm ravaged
Norman seacoasts, Guillemet explored many of the same issues that preoccupied his avant-garde friends:
brighter colors, more individualistic paint handling, and the assertion of a ‘modern’ attitude toward
landscape. His widely admired painterly skill, combined with his loyalty to the beleaguered academic
system, won Guillemet support from conservative and liberal critics alike. Nearly half of his Salon paintings
were acquired by French museums. As his working sketches and smaller paintings for private patrons
have become better known during the last twenty years, Guillemet’s affinities with the Impressionists are
being recognized and his paintings hold a leading place in the re-appraisal of nineteenth-century
landscape painting.
Jean-Baptiste Antoine Guillemet was born June 30, 1841 into a family of prosperous ship owners from
Rouen. His first drawing lessons were part of a strong bourgeois education, which his family hoped would
lead him into law. Only after his mother’s death in 1861 (who left him with a substantial income) did
Guillemet take up painting in earnest. Gullemet met Corto through Bert Morrisot and Corot arranged for
him to study with Achille Oudinot. In1862, Guillemet met Charles Daubigny, with whom he formed a strong
friendship despite a twenty-five year age difference. Daubigny included Guillemet on painting excursions
in his floating studio ‘le botin’. He brought Guillemet together with a younger group of artists including
Manet, Cezanne, Pissarro and the writer Zola.
Studying at the independent ‘Atelier Suisse’ and frequenting the Café Gerbois, Guillemet strengthened his
connections to the growing avant-garde movements in art and literature, while continuing his painting
excursions with Daubigny. Guillemet had his first painting accepted at the Salon in 1865, but in 1866,
1867 and 1868, his paintings were refused –along with works by most of his new friends. In 1867, he
signed Bazille’s petition for a new ‘salon des refuses’ and 1868, he posed with Berthe Morisot for Manet’s
important painting 'Le Balcon' (Paris, Musee d’Orsay). His friends included Monet and Renoir, to whom he
provided occasional financial assistance.
In 1870 and 1872, Guillement’s landscapes of the rugged Var countryside and the coast of Normandy
were accepted at the Salon and he won an Honorable Mention. When his friends organized the first
impressionist exhibition in 1874, Guillemet after some hesitation (and ostensibly on the advice of his idol
Corot), decided not to participate. At the 1874 Salon his immense riverscape, Bercy en Decembre,
depicting the industrial outskirts of Paris (a kind of urbanized Daubigny riverscape), won him strong
acclaim. Additionally, he won a second class medal and a purchase grant from the State. Hencefroth,
Guillemet exhibited at virtually every Salon until his death in 1918. He always received great praise and
frequent official recognition.
Guillemet’s paintings of the 1870s are almost evenly divided between scenes of the Seine basin around
Paris and the Normandy coast, and for the most part are pure landscapes. They are composed with a
strong sense of natural grandeur and his paint handling is confident and bold. Although establishment
success muted friendships with the Impressionists during the 1870’s, he remained close to Zola and to
Cézanne. His discussions with Zola about art politics during the 1870's and 1880's formed the essential
reference for the writer’s great, traumatic art-world novel, L’Oeuvre (The Masterpiece).
Guillemet continued to paint along the Seine, throughout the Ile-de-France, and in Normandy during the
1880s and his natural social skills and Salon fame brought him into important social and political circles.
This sealed his power within the Salon system and allowed him to finally secure Cézanne’s only Salon
admission in 1882. In addition to Salon exhibitions, Guillemet was very active in regional art exhibitions
and private exhibitions in Paris. As the Impressionist group began to fall apart from its own tensions,
Guillemet renewed acquaintances, primarily with Pissarro.
In 1896, the much honored Guillemet was named and Officer of the Legion of Honor. He built a strong
friendship with Harpignies, an older landscape painter who had also straddled the worlds of avant garde
painting and an entrenched exhibition system. During the first decade of the 1900s, he exhibited paintings
of southwestern France, around Carcassone, probably having traveled there with Harpignies or at his
urging. During the First World War Guillemet moved to Dordogne. He died there in 1918. The 1920
Salon included a retrospective exhibit of his paintings.
nineteenth-century. A friend of many of the Impressionists and intimate of the great novelist Emile Zola,
Guillemet chose to continue exhibiting within the Salon system when his colleagues began their program of
independent exhibition. In dramatic views of Parisian quais and industrial suburbs or storm ravaged
Norman seacoasts, Guillemet explored many of the same issues that preoccupied his avant-garde friends:
brighter colors, more individualistic paint handling, and the assertion of a ‘modern’ attitude toward
landscape. His widely admired painterly skill, combined with his loyalty to the beleaguered academic
system, won Guillemet support from conservative and liberal critics alike. Nearly half of his Salon paintings
were acquired by French museums. As his working sketches and smaller paintings for private patrons
have become better known during the last twenty years, Guillemet’s affinities with the Impressionists are
being recognized and his paintings hold a leading place in the re-appraisal of nineteenth-century
landscape painting.
Jean-Baptiste Antoine Guillemet was born June 30, 1841 into a family of prosperous ship owners from
Rouen. His first drawing lessons were part of a strong bourgeois education, which his family hoped would
lead him into law. Only after his mother’s death in 1861 (who left him with a substantial income) did
Guillemet take up painting in earnest. Gullemet met Corto through Bert Morrisot and Corot arranged for
him to study with Achille Oudinot. In1862, Guillemet met Charles Daubigny, with whom he formed a strong
friendship despite a twenty-five year age difference. Daubigny included Guillemet on painting excursions
in his floating studio ‘le botin’. He brought Guillemet together with a younger group of artists including
Manet, Cezanne, Pissarro and the writer Zola.
Studying at the independent ‘Atelier Suisse’ and frequenting the Café Gerbois, Guillemet strengthened his
connections to the growing avant-garde movements in art and literature, while continuing his painting
excursions with Daubigny. Guillemet had his first painting accepted at the Salon in 1865, but in 1866,
1867 and 1868, his paintings were refused –along with works by most of his new friends. In 1867, he
signed Bazille’s petition for a new ‘salon des refuses’ and 1868, he posed with Berthe Morisot for Manet’s
important painting 'Le Balcon' (Paris, Musee d’Orsay). His friends included Monet and Renoir, to whom he
provided occasional financial assistance.
In 1870 and 1872, Guillement’s landscapes of the rugged Var countryside and the coast of Normandy
were accepted at the Salon and he won an Honorable Mention. When his friends organized the first
impressionist exhibition in 1874, Guillemet after some hesitation (and ostensibly on the advice of his idol
Corot), decided not to participate. At the 1874 Salon his immense riverscape, Bercy en Decembre,
depicting the industrial outskirts of Paris (a kind of urbanized Daubigny riverscape), won him strong
acclaim. Additionally, he won a second class medal and a purchase grant from the State. Hencefroth,
Guillemet exhibited at virtually every Salon until his death in 1918. He always received great praise and
frequent official recognition.
Guillemet’s paintings of the 1870s are almost evenly divided between scenes of the Seine basin around
Paris and the Normandy coast, and for the most part are pure landscapes. They are composed with a
strong sense of natural grandeur and his paint handling is confident and bold. Although establishment
success muted friendships with the Impressionists during the 1870’s, he remained close to Zola and to
Cézanne. His discussions with Zola about art politics during the 1870's and 1880's formed the essential
reference for the writer’s great, traumatic art-world novel, L’Oeuvre (The Masterpiece).
Guillemet continued to paint along the Seine, throughout the Ile-de-France, and in Normandy during the
1880s and his natural social skills and Salon fame brought him into important social and political circles.
This sealed his power within the Salon system and allowed him to finally secure Cézanne’s only Salon
admission in 1882. In addition to Salon exhibitions, Guillemet was very active in regional art exhibitions
and private exhibitions in Paris. As the Impressionist group began to fall apart from its own tensions,
Guillemet renewed acquaintances, primarily with Pissarro.
In 1896, the much honored Guillemet was named and Officer of the Legion of Honor. He built a strong
friendship with Harpignies, an older landscape painter who had also straddled the worlds of avant garde
painting and an entrenched exhibition system. During the first decade of the 1900s, he exhibited paintings
of southwestern France, around Carcassone, probably having traveled there with Harpignies or at his
urging. During the First World War Guillemet moved to Dordogne. He died there in 1918. The 1920
Salon included a retrospective exhibit of his paintings.
Interested in this piece? Contact Heinley Fine Arts
Antoine Guillemet
(1841-1918)
"Walking Along the Fence"
7 x 10 1/2 inches
oil on panel
signed lower left
SOLD
(1841-1918)
"Walking Along the Fence"
7 x 10 1/2 inches
oil on panel
signed lower left
SOLD
