Camille Hilaire (1916-2004) "cap d'Antibes" Oil On Canvas

Oil painting on canvas signed HILAIRE (Camille Hilaire 1916-2004), countersigned on the back by the artist, titled "Cap D'Antibes," dated 1962, and numbered 44 in the catalogue inventory. A beautiful southern composition with vibrant colors enlivened by deep blue tones, blending Cubism and figuration. Original giltwood frame, good overall condition, original canvas on its sound keyed stretcher. Dimensions: 63 cm x 55 cm / visible area 46 cm x 38 cm.

Camille Hilaire was born in 1916 in Metz. As a young man, he was noticed by Jean Giono and Nicolas Untersteller, the future director of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Both welcomed Camille Hilaire into their studio in Metz, and he later enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Nicolas Untersteller and Maurice Brianchon. This academic success opened doors for him at various Parisian Salons. Throughout his career, he gained significant recognition from his peers. In 1947, he became a professor of drawing and decorative composition at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Art in Nancy. Furthermore, in 1950, he participated in the Prix de Rome competition and won the second Grand Prix. In 1958, he was appointed professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. That same year, he also received the prize from the Société des Amateurs d'Art. In the second part of his career, he developed a passion for watercolor, but especially for stained glass painting and tapestries. He created numerous stained glass windows for several major churches in France, which allowed him to travel. Camille Hilaire was influenced by many encounters, both large and small. The great Italian masters of the Renaissance inspired his use of light in the majority of his paintings. Furthermore, early in his career, he was influenced by the works of Albrecht Dürer, which brought a fine and precise touch to his style. From 1964 onwards, he began exhibiting in France and then abroad, winning numerous awards and dedicating himself to various techniques such as large-scale decorative works, mosaics, theatrical costumes, tapestry, watercolor, and stained glass. Raymond Charmet, painter and art critic, said of him: "Hilaire, a complete and thoughtful painter, deeply penetrates the masses with a radiant light, recreating the rainbow in its intensity. He thus continues Cézanne's effort to rediscover the architecture of matter, which he suggests to us through a warm atmosphere, radiant with joy." In Lorraine, some of his works can be seen on display, notably at the Musée de la Cour d'Or in Metz and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy. Around twenty churches in Lorraine are adorned with stained glass windows signed by Camille Hilaire, including four in our territory: the churches of Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Joseph in Yutz, the church of Saint-Maximin in Thionville and the church of Saint-Luc in Rochonvillers. Christiane Gérard wrote about this in Trait d'Union, the Yutz newspaper: “But it is above all through the captivating luminosity of stained glass, through the lines of force and rhythms born of a well-considered Cubism, that Camille Hilaire expresses himself in numerous religious buildings in Lorraine, particularly in the churches of Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Joseph in Yutz, whose Baccarat crystal stained-glass windows were commissioned from the Benoît Workshop of Nancy in 1958.” Camille Hilaire belongs to a certain tradition of academic painting, but by synthesizing the subject sometimes to the point of abstraction. He plays with forms, light, and colors with mastery, and he often accepted official commissions, such as the decoration of the ocean liners France and Liberté.