Jean Rigaud 1912-1999 Marine Painter

Oil on canvas, signed lower left, 27 x 35 cm. Accompanied by a book on Jean Rigaud with texts by Charles Durand-Ruel and Jean Ducros, inscribed by the painter and Jean Ducros. Born in Bordeaux in 1912, Jean Rigaud studied under his father, Pierre Gaston Rigaud, and under André Devambez at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A lover of travel and the sea, he was appointed official painter of the Navy on January 1, 1956, and then became a full member on June 1, 1979. He participated in group exhibitions, notably at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, where he served on the jury and committee. He won a gold medal in 1937 at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, the Messageries Maritimes prize in 1952, the Morocco prize in 1953 and the Charles Cottet prize in 1957. He died in 1999, the year of his retrospective at the National Maritime Museum.