Simon-Auguste (1909-1987), a painter born in Marseille and based in Paris, belongs to the group of the Peintres témoins de leur temps. His work comprises intimate portraits, nudes, still lifes and landscapes, which the gallery presents below in signed lithographs and engravings.
Simon-Auguste (1909-1987) is a French painter whose work focuses on the intimate: portraits, nudes, still lifes and scenes of childhood are bathed in a calm, silent atmosphere. He is notably known for a remarkable portrait of the writer Paul Léautaud. His signed lithographs and prints extend this gentle, restrained painting onto paper.
Simon Joseph Simon-Auguste was born in Marseille on 20 April 1909, the son of a cabinetmaker. At a very young age, he worked in a ceramics factory while attending evening classes at the École des beaux-arts de Marseille. This dual training, between the workshop and academic instruction, built a solid craft.
Settling in Paris in 1939, he exhibited at the Salon d'automne as well as at the Salons of the Peintres témoins de leur temps, a figurative movement dedicated to depicting the life of its era. His output, though not large, matured slowly, away from fashions.
Simon-Auguste's manner is recognisable by the softness of his light and his subtle use of glazes, those translucent veils of colour that give faces and objects a muted depth. His subjects are those of everyday life: a face, an interior, a café counter, a country lane.
In his lithographs, the line keeps the same restraint. Bar scenes, portraits and Île-de-France landscapes find a delicate balance between drawing and colour.
Other Peintres témoins de leur temps painters to discover: Armand Nakache and Ginette Rapp.
The gallery currently offers several works by Simon-Auguste, at accessible prices:
You can acquire them directly online: they reach you with the gallery's certificate, by careful, tracked and insured shipping. To see them up close, the gallery, located in Argancy near Metz, welcomes visitors by appointment.
He belongs to the Peintres témoins de leur temps, a figurative group that favours lived scenes, portraiture and landscape over abstraction.
Portraits, nudes, still lifes, childhood scenes and landscapes. His portrait of Paul Léautaud is one of his most celebrated works.
Signed lithographs and a print, on the themes of portraiture, landscape and bar scenes.
