Georges Philibert Charles Maroniez (1865-1933)

Georges Philibert Charles Maroniez (1865-1933) Moulières dans les rochers Oil on canvas signed lower right 54x73cm 75x94cm (framed) Georges Maroniez born in Douai on January 17, 1865 and died in Paris on December 11, 1933, a French painter, photographer and inventor. Georges Philibert Charles Maroniez showed a taste and talent for drawing and painting. His father encouraged him but also asked him to study law. After completing his studies, he began a career as a magistrate in Boulogne-sur-Mer (1891), and Cambrai (1897). In parallel with the law faculty, he followed the academic courses of the Douai School of Fine Arts, and in 1880 became the student of Pierre Billet (1837-1922) in Cantin. There he met the painter Adrien Demont (1851-1928), son-in-law of the realist painter Jules Breton (1827-1906). On the latter's advice. In Wissant, he became friends with Adrien Demont and Virginie Breton, with whom he discovered the coastal landscapes. Every summer for several years, around the Demont-Bretons, he would meet his friends from Douai: Fernand Stiévenart, Henri and Marie Duhem, Félix Planquette. This was the era of the Wissant group. We will also speak of the "Wissant School" or "Opal Coast School", including painters from Berck who were friends of the Demont-Bretons, one of the most illustrious being Francis Tattegrain (1852-1915). Thanks to the introduction and sponsorship of Adrien Demont, Georges Maroniez became, in 1889, a member of the Society of French Artists. In 1905, he decided to resign from the judiciary and devote himself entirely to his art. Mobilized in 1914, he was named knight of the Legion of Honor 5 in July 1918. The Maroniez family settled in Paris in 1919, rue d'Aguesseau. In 1922, he was named Rosati d'honneur. Public collections New York, Dahesh Art Museum: Boulogne-sur-Mer, castle-museum: Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts