Martin Sauvaigo, Charles (1881–1970) 3 Scenes Of Farming In Africa

MARTIN SAUVAIGO Charles (1881–1970)
The oil palm and sisal
Cotton and kapok
Castor bean and peanut
Circa 1930
Annotated on the back by his son

Born to parents from Nice, Charles began attending Louis Félix Ziem’s studio in Nice at the age of 10, then, at age 16, he enrolled at the School of Decorative Arts in Nice under the direction of Gustave Adolphe Mossa, before attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1900 in Léon Bonnat’s studio, and later in Luc Olivier Merson’s studio in 1906.
His career began in Nice with institutional commissions for large-scale decorative projects: high schools, the Chamber of Commerce, and more.
During the war, Charles Martin-Sauvaigo participated in the Salons des armées.
Beginning in 1925, he participated in the International Exhibitions of Decorative Arts; in 1928, at the Ghent Floral Show (with an 18-meter canvas); in 1931 at the International Colonial Exposition, and in 1937 at the International Exposition of Arts and Manufactures, which featured 52 countries (his exhibit covered 422 square meters!).
The war brought an end to international exhibitions. Starting in 1936, and for about fifteen years, he worked on the decorations for the ocean liners of the Compagnie Générale Trans-Atlantique.
Many of his compositions were destroyed due to their large sizes and the impossibility of storing them after the exhibitions. As for the destroyed ocean liners, only these preparatory studies remain, which unfortunately limit the vision we might otherwise have had of these grand decorations.
Easel painting, based on life, kept him occupied during his travels as a Navy Painter. It was in 1922 that Charles
Martin-Sauvaigo joined the corps of painters in the Department of the Navy; only 40 painters held this title, and they were unpaid and considered equivalent to officers. They embarked on ships and signed their works with a naval anchor.
Charles Martin-Sauvaigo organized exhibitions of his easel paintings during port calls, which were a great success; museums
purchased works on these occasions.
From the same period, we can mention Charles Fouqueray, Raoul du Gardier, Jean Alaux, and Jean-Louis Paquenaud, who traveled with Charles Martin-Sauvaigo in 1927.
In a sense, he was carrying out a mission of “artistic propaganda,” which was accompanied by lectures given in the countries he visited.
Thus, Charles Martin-Sauvaigo undertook a sort of world tour during his career as a marine painter;
Of course, every year he participated in the Salon de la Marine, held at the Palais de Chaillot from 1943 until his death.
His hometown of Nice dedicated three exhibitions to him. In 1929, he was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor.
In Paris, the most prominent galleries exhibited his work: the Hautecoeur Gallery in 1923, the Devambez Gallery in 1926, the Georges Petit Gallery in 1930, the Charpentier Gallery in 1936, and the Susse Frères Gallery in 1945.