Tuaregs At A Camp In The Hoggar Mountains

Charming Oil on Panel

13 x 27 cm

Excellent condition, signed lower right

Sold with its frame


The Artist :

Paul Élie Dubois (Montbéliard 1886 – Colombier-Châtelot 1949)

French painter associated with the Algiers School.

Traveling Painter

Paul-Élie Dubois trained at the Académie Julian and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris

A student of Jean-Paul Laurens and Fernand Cormon2.
Throughout his career, he remained committed to drawing, even as he broke free from academic art.

However, while he stood on the margins of 20th-century art movements, he drew inspiration from the works of modern artists and immersed himself in their styles. In his painting, Paul-Élie Dubois prioritized light and color.

His growing talent and perseverance earned him recognition from both his peers and critics. From then on, he made a living from his painting.

Paul Élie Dubois exhibited with the French Artists’ Society as early as 1908, presenting a portrait of a peasant from the Franche-Comté region. In 1911, he received an honorable mention for a portrait titled *Jeanne*.

In 1912, the government acquired his painting *Harmony in White*, and in 1913 he exhibited *The Pink Dress* and *Wood Gatherers in Winter*, followed in 1914 by *Spring 2*.

During World War I, he painted a large composition titled *Deuil* (Mourning), which earned him a silver medal, the Thirion Prize, and a travel grant at the 1920 Salon des Artistes Français. Thus, that same year, he left for a two-year stay at the Villa And-El-Tif in Algiers.

Paul-Elie Dubois would never leave this country, where he experienced the most exhilarating years of his career. In his own words, Algeria brought him the “revelation of light.”

His return was a great success. In 1922, he won a gold medal at the Salon for his painting *Arab Women at the El-Kettar Cemetery* and was subsequently exempted from competition. The Institute also honored him in 1923, as did the Higher Council of Fine Arts, which awarded him its national prize for *Arab Musicians* and *Peace in the Light*.

In 1926, the Salon received *Le Blanc Cortère*, *A Carpet Market*, and *Marrakech* (Morocco). He also exhibited a series of paintings brought back from his trip to Morocco at the Salon des Tuileries.

He was an ethnographic painter who participated in numerous expeditions to the Hoggar Mountains, particularly beginning in 1928, and focused on the life of the Tuaregs, the “Blue Men” of the desert.

At the 1930 Salon des Tuileries, he achieved great success, presenting nearly 400 works that drew critical acclaim and public enthusiasm. He was awarded the title of “Ambassador of the Hoggar.”
He participated in the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, at the 1935 Brussels International Exposition, and at the World’s Fairs in Paris in 1937 and New York in 1939.

His works are housed, among other places, at the Musée du Luxembourg, the Petit-Palais, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Algiers, the Musée National Zabana in Oran, the Bardo National Museum, the Musée des Années Trente in Boulogne-Billancourt, and the museums of Montbéliard, Besançon, Luxeuil-Les-Bains, Voiron, and Narbonne.

Awards:
Thiron Prize (1920). Abd-El-Tif Prize (1920). National Prize for Fine Arts (1923). Grand Prize for the Arts of Algeria (1927). Dumoulin Prize for Algeria, 1935 Salon.