GEN PAUL

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GEN PAUL 1895–1975

Aquatint etching on paper.
Date of creation of the plate by Gen Paul: circa 1920 [between 1918 and 1924]
Plate mark size (image without marges ): 16 x 22 cm.
Condition: see photograph.

Aquatint is an etching process. It consists of covering a metal plate with a protective layer of powdered resin, more or less dense, and then immersing it in an acid bath. The process allows, through the use of fine particles of resin (colophony or bitumen) sprinkled and then heated, to obtain a surface composed of tonal gradations created by dots rather than lines.

Gen Paul was introduced to aquatint by the engraver Delâtre. He very quickly mastered the technique.

From 1918 onwards, he began to earn money by selling copies of Old Masters from the Louvre painted on cigar boxes, as well as aquatints to second-hand dealers.

It is likely that between 1918 and 1924 he produced at least a hundred different aquatints, sometimes using the same plate with variations in subject: day, night, sepia, etc.

Most of them depict views of Montmartre, some of Paris, and are of the same size: 16 x 22 cm at the plate mark.

It now seems certain that Gen Paul did not sign his engravings. It is very probable that Delâtre carried out the printing. Delâtre probably also signed most of them. Some are unsigned. These engravings were also very likely signed by the dealers. This does not change the fact that they are original prints: an original print is one engraved by the artist himself, whether he signs it or not.

This is why these works were not signed "Gen Paul" but most often under one of his two pseudonyms: Eugène Lautral (Eugène being his first name, Lautral in reference to Lautrec), or Paul Trélade (Paul being his surname, Trélade being "Delâtre" in backslang), the latter being the most frequently used.

To our knowledge, only one aquatint from this series is known today to bear the signature “Gen Paul” in pencil, in the artist’s own hand.

The print run depended on the success of the print, which explains why they are not numbered. At first, a few trial proofs were made to test the market; in case of success, the full edition was printed. This is why some are extremely rare, others more common. It is likely that nowadays only about ten copies exist of most aquatints, and that 20 of his engravings were printed in more than 130 copies (those included in Parménie’s book Autour de nos Moulins, published in 1922 with a set of 20 engravings by Gen Paul).
The plate was scratched once the edition was completed, preventing any later reprints.

To our knowledge, only three engravings were the subject of later printings (not made circa 1920), and these were carried out under the supervision of either Gen Paul himself or Gabrielle Abet: a view of the Moulin Rouge, a view of Rue Lepic, and a view of the Lapin Agile. Some bear a stamped signature, and some are numbered.

In the 1920s, these engravings were most often hung on strings with clothespins in the stalls of Place du Tertre, or mounted on cardboard, and more rarely on wood, boxes, etc. Many were destroyed, and few have survived in very good condition.
The value of these engravings therefore depends mainly on condition, subject, and rarity.
— Julien Roussard.
(Text © Julien Roussard / Galerie Roussard).

Certificate of Authenticity by Julien Roussard, specialist of the painter.

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• Private collection, France.

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GEN PAUL

Born in Montmartre in 1895, died in Paris in 1975. He is one of the greatest French Expressionist painters and produced several masterpieces during his full Expressionist period.

His career began on the Butte Montmartre, encouraged by great artists who lived there and whom he met in this village-like atmosphere: notably Frank-Will for painting, and Eugène Delâtre for engraving.

All art historians and critics divide his career into four periods, marked from the beginning by his wound in the First World War, which caused the loss of his right leg.

From 1924 onwards, Gen Paul began a solitary evolution, entering his full Expressionist period where he transformed subjects and created a personal form of gestural Expressionism, based on emotion and intensity, making him one of the greatest French Expressionist painters. Faces and figures became increasingly important, especially hands.

Until September 1930, he traveled and worked without rest, seized by a sort of creative frenzy. The Bing Gallery, one of the most important in Paris, exhibited him in 1928 alongside Picasso, Rouault, Braque, and Soutine. In a long essay devoted to Gen Paul, Bing emphasized the importance and talent of his painting. He painted musicians that one can almost hear playing, striking portraits, Basque landscapes, and views of Montmartre filled with movement and vitality.

Exhausted by an intense life, weakened by alcohol and by an infection contracted in Algiers, Gen Paul collapsed during his stay in Madrid in 1930. He would never recover the same energy in his painting, though he continued to produce works of great significance. A keen observer of his time, he captured contemporary evolutions and anticipated American Abstract Expressionism.

One cannot speak of Gen Paul without mentioning his strong personality, which left a mark on all who knew or even encountered him. His studio became a kind of Sunday morning gathering place where all of Paris would come: actors, musicians, doctors, writers, painters...

Hospitalized in 1975, he died of cancer the same year.

A magnificent retrospective was dedicated to him in 1995, on the centenary of his birth, at the Couvent des Cordeliers in Paris. Curated by André Roussard and Carlo a Marca, the exhibition brought together a hundred Expressionist works from his second period (1924–1930), considered masterpieces of painting. La Gazette de l’Hôtel Drouot, commenting on the exhibition, described him as: “Gen Paul is without doubt the greatest representative, and perhaps the only one, of French tradition Expressionism.”

André Roussard was one of Gen Paul’s principal dealers. He organized the most important exhibitions held after the artist’s death and published his biography in 2006, considered the only authoritative historical reference.

His son, Julien Roussard, is a specialist in Gen Paul and has organized several exhibitions, including Pre-War / Post-War in October 2012, the largest solo exhibition ever devoted to Gen Paul by a gallery. More than one hundred representative works from all periods of the artist were gathered across two venues, offering a complete panorama of Gen Paul’s oeuvre.
(Text © Galerie Roussard).