BOUYSSOU Jacques

Rue Lepic, Pont-Neuf, regattas on the Seine: Jacques Bouyssou (1926-1997) painted Paris with the freshness of a child from Honfleur, inspired by Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz. As an official painter of the Navy, he created luminous original lithographs. Galerie 125 invites you to discover above his numbered prints, hand-signed in pencil.

Jacques Bouyssou, from the Norman Estuary to the Streets of Montmartre

Few painters had a childhood as surrounded by artists as Jacques Bouyssou. Born on November 16, 1926, in La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur, near Honfleur, he was the only son of Justin Bouyssou, an art dealer. From an early age, he mingled with Othon Friesz and Raoul Dufy, who became his mentors, and met Moïse Kisling, Fernand Léger, and Ossip Zadkine.

Training with the Masters

After studying at the School of Architecture of Fine Arts in Troyes, where he drew with sculptor Janin, he moved to Paris and became a student of Othon Friesz and Lucien Simon at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. From Friesz and Dufy, he retained a taste for bold color and lively drawing, serving vibrant subjects.

His first exhibition took place in London in 1955. The following year, the gallerist Katia Granoff, a prominent figure in the Parisian market, invited him to exhibit in Paris. This marked the beginning of a long collaboration. His career then took on an international dimension, with exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Taipei, and Caracas.

Official Painter of the Navy

Attached to the ports and shores of his native Normandy, Bouyssou debuted at the Salon de la Marine in 1961. In 1973, he was appointed official painter of the Navy, a title that distinguishes artists who have devoted a significant part of their work to the sea. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1990. His works are held at the National Maritime Museum in Paris and the Eugène-Boudin Museum in Honfleur. He passed away in 1997, the same year the Greniers à Sel in Honfleur dedicated a retrospective to him.

Paris in Lithographs

While the sea holds a major place in his work, Paris is the other great subject. Bouyssou loves the steep streets of Montmartre, its shops and cafés, the lively quays of the Seine, and its bridges. His original lithographs capture this atmosphere with a luminous palette and a lively line, in the spirit of a painting of joie de vivre inherited from Dufy.

The selection presented above offers a beautiful overview: Paris, Montmartre, rue Lepic, Le relais de la butte, Rue marchande, Quai de Seine, Le Pont-Neuf, and Le Pont Royal, as well as a regatta view along the Seine. These large sheets on vellum paper, approximately 55 x 75 cm, are numbered and hand-signed in pencil by the artist.

Purchase a Lithograph by Jacques Bouyssou at Galerie 125

For lovers of Paris and collectors of post-war French figurative painting, a print by Jacques Bouyssou is a charming acquisition. Each piece is certified by the gallery and can be ordered online in just a few clicks, with tracked and insured delivery.