AN APPRECIATION: Armand Guillaumin Self-portrait by Armand Guillaumin
Armand Guillaumin (full name Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin) was one of the original Impressionists. While he did not achieve the fame of some of his colleagues, his work is masterful and influential.
Career Guillaumin was born in Paris in 1841. However, he grew up in Moulins. While he was at school, he became friends with Eugene Meunier (aka Eugene Meur) who would later pen a successful cafe in Paris where the Impressionists would gather and who was an early collector of Impressionist paintings. In 1857, Guillaumin returned to Paris where he worked in his uncle's lingerie store. In the evenings, despite his family's objections, he took drawing lessons with the sculptor Louis Denis Caillouette. Friction over his interest in art eventually led Guillaumin to leave his uncle's house and take a position with the a French government railway. Meanwhile, Guillaumin began attending the Academie Suise where he met fellow students Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissarro. He also frequented the Cafe Guerbois where a group of young artists would gather in the evenings to discuss art. Their hero was Edouard Manet whose avant garde work was challenging the art establishment. Guillaumin was also influenced by the realist work of Gustave Courbet at this point in his career. In order to succeed in the French art world at this time, an artist had to exhibit at the annual Paris Salon. Access to the Salon, however, was controlled by the conservative Academie des Beaux Arts. In 1863, the Salon rejected an unprecedented number of paintings, which led to some criticism. At the suggestion of Emperor Louis Napoleon an exhibition was held of the works that had been rejected by the Salon. Like Pissarro and Cezanne, Guillaumin exhibited at this Salon des Refuses. For a time, Guillaumin tried working full time as an artist. However, he was from humble origins and did not have an independent source of income. Dreading the poverty that some of his artist friends were enduring, Guillaumin went to work for the ministry of Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways). However, he endeavored to take night shifts so that he would have more time for his art. Guillaumin was in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Many of his early works were destroyed in the fighting that took place during the Commune that followed the war. When things returned to normal, Guillaumin spent time in Pontoise where Pissarro was living. Together with Cezanne, the three artists would go on painting expeditions. Guillaumin also became acquainted with the avant garde collector Dr. Paul Gachet, who lived in the area and who purchased a number of his works. After the Commune, there was a conservative backlash against anything that appeared to be revolutionary. As a result, the Paris Salon became even more hostile to avant garde art. This led Pissarro and some of the young artists from the Cafe Guerbois to suggest holding their own independent exhibition. Along with Pissarro, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot and Paul Cezanne, Guillaumin exhibited at the First Impressionist Exhibition in 1873. Guillaumin would participate in six of the eight Impressionist exhibitions. Over time, the group splintered with cadres forming around Pissarro and Edgar Degas. Naturally, Guillaumin gravitated towards Pissarro who, among other things, defended Guillaumin's art against criticism by Monet and Renoir who did not like Guillaumin's strong colors. (Renoir also objected to Guillaumin's anarchist views). Some of the original Impressionists left the group while new artists joined. Paul Gauguin was one of the artists who joined and he began to take an active role in the group. He courted Guillaumin's support and became a defender of his work. By the mid-1880s, Guillaumin's art was receiving praise from some critics and a new generation of young artists often gathered at his studio. One of these was a young Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. Guillaumin's use of bright colors is said to have influenced Van Gogh. His inclusion of factories and other industrial scenery in his landscapes was also taken up by Van Gogh. (Interestingly, just before his suicide, Van Gogh had a quarrel with Dr. Gachet about how one of Guillaumin's paintings was hung in Gachet's house). Despite his anarchist views, Gullaumin played the state lottery. In 1891, he won and received 100,000 francs. This windfall allowed Guillaumin to quit his job and devote himself full time to art. He also began to travel in France and the Netherlands. Guillaumin continued to produce art until his death in 1927. The last of the original Impressionist group to die, he never achieved the fame of some of his better-known colleagues. Still, he was able top sell works during his lifetime and to have an influence on other artists. Personal life In 1887, Guillaumin married Marie-Joséphine Gareton, a relative. (Some sources say she was his niece while others say she was a cousin). Degas and Gauguin were witnesses. Inasmuch as Guillaumin did a portrait of her in 1871, their relationship may have begun much earlier. Madame Guillaumin was a school teacher and helped to support the family until Armand won the lottery. The couple had four children: two boys and two girls. Analysis Guillaumin was primarily a landscape painter. Although his work does not have the emotional appeal of Monet or Renoir, the works are well-done and interestingly composed. While some of the other Impressionists changed their style quite significantly over the course of their careers, Guillaumin's style remained fairly constant. His choice of colors became stronger over time and foreshadowed the work of the Fauves. |
Above: "Sunset at Ivry." Guillaumin's inclusion of factory smokestacks in a landscape was unusual at the time.
Below: "Qui de la Gare." 
Above: "Snowy Landscape in Crozant".
Guillaumin's trademark use of brilliant colors increased during the course of his career. Above: "Landscape With Ruins".
Below: "Moret Sur Loing." 
See our profiles of these other Impressionists and members of their circle.
Frederic Bazille Eugene Boudin Marie Bracquemond Gustave Caillebotte Mary Cassatt Paul Cezanne Edgar Degas Henri Fantin-Latour Paul Gauguin Eva Gonzales Edouard Manet Claude Monet (Part I The Early Years) Claude Monet (Part II High Impressionism) Claude Monet (Part III The Giverny Years) Berthe Morisot Camille Pissarro Pierre Auguste Renoir Alfred Sisley Suzanne Valadon Victor Vignon |
Artist appreciation - Armand Guillaumin