Clovis Trouille
Encyclopedia
Camille Clovis Trouille was born on 24 October 1889, in La Fère
, France
. He worked as a restorer and decorator of department store mannequins, but is remembered as a Sunday painter who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts
of Amiens
from 1905 to 1910. He died on 24 September 1975 in Paris
.
This contempt for the Church
as a corrupt institution provided Trouille with the inspiration for decades of work:
and Salvador Dalí
, Trouille was declared a Surrealist by André Breton
- a label Trouille accepted only as a way of gaining exposure, not having any real sympathy with that movement.
The simple style and lurid colouring of Trouille's paintings echo the lithographic posters used in advertising in the first half of the 20th century.
Trouille, Clovis
Éditeur: Didier Devillez
Avant-gardes / Littérature / Beaux-arts / 2001
Format: 22 x 15 cm / Broché / 128 pages / Langue: Français
ISBN 2-87396-047-7
de Clovis Trouille, Gérard Lattier
Langue: Français Éditeur : Actes Sud (1 mars 2004)
Format : Broché - 44 pages
ISBN 2-7427-4934-9
, Clovis Trouille: Un peintre libre et iconoclaste, éd. Musée de Picardie / Amiens Métropôple, 2007.
Langue: Français Éditeur : (mai 2007)
ISBN 978-2-908095-37-1
La Fère
La Fère is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in France.-Population:-References:*...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He worked as a restorer and decorator of department store mannequins, but is remembered as a Sunday painter who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
of Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
from 1905 to 1910. He died on 24 September 1975 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Works
- His service in World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
gave him a lifelong hatred of the military, expressed in his first major painting Remembrance (1931). The painting depicts a pair of wraith-like soldiers clutching white rabbits, an airborne female contortionist throwing a handful of medals, and the whole scene being blessed by a cross-dressing cardinal.
This contempt for the Church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
as a corrupt institution provided Trouille with the inspiration for decades of work:
- Dialogue at the Carmel (1944) shows a skull wearing a crown of thornsCrown of ThornsIn Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus Christ before his crucifixion...
being used as an ornament. - The Mummy shows a mummified woman coming to life as a result of a shaft of light falling on a large bust of André BretonAndré BretonAndré Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
. - The Magician (1944) has a self-portrait satisfying a group of swooning women with a wave of his magician's wand.
- My Tomb (1947) shows Trouille's tomb as a focal point of corruption and depravity in a graveyard.
- Trouille's other common subjects were sex, as shown in Lust (1959), a portrait of the Marquis de SadeMarquis de SadeDonatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
sitting in the foreground of a landscape decorated with a tableau of various perversions, and a "madly egoistic bravado" employed in a self-mocking style.
- His 1946 portrait of a reclining nude shown from behind entitled Oh! Calcutta, Calcutta!Oh! Calcutta!Oh! Calcutta! is an avant-garde theatrical revue, created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in London in 1970. It ran in London for over 3,900 performances, and in New York initially for 1,314...
- a pun in French - was chosen as the title for the 1969 musical revue. (The French phrase "oh quel cul t'as" translates roughly as "oh what a lovely ass you have".)
Style
After his work was seen by Louis AragonLouis Aragon
Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.- Early life :...
and Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Trouille was declared a Surrealist by André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
- a label Trouille accepted only as a way of gaining exposure, not having any real sympathy with that movement.
The simple style and lurid colouring of Trouille's paintings echo the lithographic posters used in advertising in the first half of the 20th century.
Literature
- Parcours à travers l'œuvre de Clovis Trouille 1889 - 1975 Clovis Prévost, Actes Sud - Edition Bernard Légier ISBN 2-7427-4476-2
- Clovis Trouille Jean-Marc Campagne Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Parution : 1965
Trouille, Clovis
Éditeur: Didier Devillez
Avant-gardes / Littérature / Beaux-arts / 2001
Format: 22 x 15 cm / Broché / 128 pages / Langue: Français
ISBN 2-87396-047-7
de Clovis Trouille, Gérard Lattier
Langue: Français Éditeur : Actes Sud (1 mars 2004)
Format : Broché - 44 pages
ISBN 2-7427-4934-9
, Clovis Trouille: Un peintre libre et iconoclaste, éd. Musée de Picardie / Amiens Métropôple, 2007.
Langue: Français Éditeur : (mai 2007)
ISBN 978-2-908095-37-1
External links
- Clovis Trouille Association
- Two works ("The Magician" and "Les joueuses de cartes") not shown in the "Galerie" at the official Clovis Trouille site. Scroll about two-thirds of the way down the page.