Jean Dries
Jean Dries was the name used by the artist Jean Driesbach, who was born on October 19, 1905, in Bar-le-Duc in Meuse, France and died in Paris on February 26, 1973. He was a Lorrain painter by birth and was born the year Fauvism appeared at the Salon d'automne. He became a Parisian painter when he studied under Lucien Simon at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, through his adventures in the "zone", setting up several studios before finally settling in the Île Saint-Louis at 15 quai d'Anjou.
He was also a Provençal painter since he spent time in Provence following in the steps of Cézanne and Van Gogh in the 1930s and set up his last studio in Aurel, Vaucluse.
He can also be considered a painter from Normandy where he was drawn by his friends Jean Jardin and Edmond Duchesne and where he bought a house for his family in 1936. From 1953 to 1973 he was the curator of the Eugène Boudin Museum in Honfleur which still has some of his works on display.
As Jean Dries believed that art transcended national borders he never stopped travelling outside of France and even Europe. His admiration for Spanish and Italian masters led him to Spain and Italy. He taught art at the French colonial school in Sétif for a few months and was sent by the French government to Mendoza in the spring of 1940 to set up pictorial art studies at the University of Cuyo and to promote French culture.
Esthetically, he proclaimed himself to be totally independent. Starting in 1928 he exhibited in various Parisian Salons – Salon d'automne, Salon des Tuileries, Salon des indépendants – and steadfastly refused to be part of any school, style or genre. He painted landscapes, portraits, self-portraits, nudes, still lifes, seascapes, horse races and bullfights.
Although tempted by Impressionism, Cubism and especially Fauvism, he never gave into abstraction or non-figurative art. In his Blue Notebook he wrote "One cannot do without nature. One must neither torture it or oneself." He was a great colorist while remaining attentive to the balance of composition. It has been said of him that he was a "fauve Cézanne".Biography
Nothing in his family background predisposed Jean Driesbach to become a painter. His mother's family had no ties to the art world. His paternal grandparents who had been wine growers near Colmar in the Haut-Rhin decided to leave Alsace in 1871 to remain French and had settled in Bar-le-Duc where his father was a bailiff.
Jean Dries successfully completed his secondary studies despite two interruptions due to the war. The German advances in 1914-15 and in 1917-18 forced the family to seek refuge near Granville in Normandy. This was where Dries first tried his hand at drawing and first saw the sea: "Deeply moved by the sea, played among the rocks, the port of Granville" he wrote.
1921 was a turning point in his life. His father died after a long illness and he was forced to work for the master glass-maker Gambut to help his family. He himself had a serious spinal injury and from which he suffered for the rest of his life. "I pass the time painting still-lifes and portraits." His talent came to the attention of his friend the future engraver Paul Lemagny and was encouraged by his philosophy teacher, Pierre Salzi, who introduced him to the painter Jules-Emile Zingg.The formative years 1926–1930
With the financial help of the alumni association of the lycée in Bar-le-Duc and the town as well as a loan on trust from the Meuse department, Jean Driesbach left Lorraine for Paris. There he studied at the Ecole des Beaux arts with Auguste Laguillermie and Lucien Simon. He soon got a room at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris where he made many friends and discovered music. "That's where I first heard Beethoven and Mozart". At the school he made some lifelong friends, including Paul Arzens. At this time out of financial necessity he painted doll faces and bonbonnieres.Work
In Paris Jean Driesbach, who was starting to be called Jean Dries, attended the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts but also the art academies in Montparnasse where he drew a great deal. He also went to museums where he was very "impressed by Courbet and Cézanne." Looking for nature to paint, he explored the outskirts of Paris, the banks of the Seine, the "zone", Saint-Cloud and Ville d'Avray. His drawing talent was recognized in 1926 when he won first prize for a live model in modern dress for Un franciscain and in 1927 he obtained a teaching certificate for drawing.Holidays
During the holidays at home in Bar-le-Duc Jean Dries painted the countryside, tried his hand at portraits and also his first large scale compositions: Trois nus dans un paysage, and Le déjeuner en forêt "Painting has never given me so much pleasure" he wrote. He also made his first journeys. In 1928 he traveled through Auvergne and the South of France. It was however his trip in February 1929 to Cassis which made the deepest impression on him, "a marvelous journey, my dearest memory". While studying in London at the Institut de France in February–March 1929, he met Jean Jardin who would become his lifelong friend. Together they discovered the British Museum, the National Gallery and Dutch painting. Finally in 1930 with another close friend, Alexandre Marc-Lipianski, he visited Spain: its landscapes and of course its museums, "What emotion Velasquez and Goya inspire".Setting up as an artist
Early recognition
In 1928, while still a student, Dries exhibited his first large-scale paintings at the Salon d'Automne and at the Salon des Indépendants and in 1931 when just 26 he exhibited L'Atelier which he had painted the year before. These submissions drew the attention of the critics who devoted long articles to his work: in November 1932 Thiébault-Sisson wrote in Le Temps "Dries is a born painter and I know of few talents as promising as his." In 1929 his first individual exhibition was hung in the staircase of the Comédie des Champs-Elysées and for the first time in 1930 the French Government bought one of his paintings: Sous-bois dans la Meuse. Recognized by critics, appreciated by private and public collectors, in 1936 Dries was acknowledged by his peers when he met the painter Vlaminck who asked to see some of his work and ended the visit with these words "The carp's not bad. You're a painter."Paris and Honfleur
In 1930 he set up in Paris near the Porte d'Orléans and had his mother and two sisters join him. At the same time he bought a house for them in Honfleur, where they lived until 1961. He had been drawn there by his friends Jean Jardin and Edmond Duchesne, but for someone who was in love with the South of France the first contact was difficult, “Everything seemed lackluster and listless... It would take me years to get over this distaste, to become aware of the delicacy of the landscapes of northwestern France, the cradle of impressionism.” He continued to travel in late 1935 to take up a teaching position at the colonial school in Sétif Algeria. Disappointed by the few months he spent there he came back with only a few sketches, “I was disoriented by orientalism” he decided. He was more inspired by the trips he made to Italy and Switzerland and to Spain where he spent two weeks in Cadaquès, “I sometimes met the painter Salvador Dali. He had a house there and shocked the locals by the way he dressed.” A long journey in 1937 in particular took him to Cassis, Arles and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in memory of Van Gogh. He also went to Tuscany and Rome to see his friend Paul Lemagny and discovered Corot's landscapes. In 1938 he had a major retrospective exhibition at the Charpentier Gallery including 84 paintings and 21 watercolors covering this period.Maturity 1938–1964
At 33 Dries was a recognized artist, exhibiting regularly in shows and art galleries. His works were bought by private collectors, the City of Paris and the French government. He had houses and studios in Paris and Honfleur.It was in December 1938 as a grant holder at the Abbaye de Royaumont near Paris that he met “Mlle Rosset, an excellent musician” who became his wife on November 11, 1939, and was thereafter his favorite model. When the war broke out they were in Provence where Dries was a resident at the Laurent-Vibert Foundation. As his state of health precluded his being mobilised, he was at first posted as an art teacher to the Parisian Lycée Carnot which had been sent to Normandy for safety reasons. He was again disappointed by the experience. “I've got better things to do” he wrote in December of that year. The French government then sent him to Argentina to Mendoza where at Cuyo University he organized painting classes and his wife taught music. It was during the stopover in Rio that they learned of the defeat of France in the spring of 1940. In Argentina and Chile Dries found new landscapes to paint, interested students and new friends, the engraver Victor Delhez and the opera singer Jane Bathori, but was overwhelmed by sadness and worry for his family back in France. In spite of the offer of a five-year contract and the success of his exhibition in Buenos Aires presented by Margarita Abella Caprile, the Dries decided to return to France. They boarded ship December 4, 1941, three days before navigation became impossible after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. On the way back the Portuguese Minister of Propaganda invited them to stop in Lisbon where Dries exhibited a few paintings, “unexpectedly successful,...enthusiastic press coverage, lots of buyers” before reaching Paris in the spring of 1942. They found an apartment at 15 quai d’Anjou on Île Saint-Louis which became his ‘haven’ of choice and his studio until he died. He spent time in Paris, Honfleur and the South of France and his painting went in a new direction which would last several years. He began work on two paintings which would become recognized as two of his major works: Le portrait de la mère de l’artiste and especially Paris, 25 août 1944, "a nude woman leaning over a balcony where flags are waving. She symbolizes Paris at long last free." The use of highly contrasting colours, the red outline around forms marks the beginning of what some have called 'the red period'. After the war Dries began travelling again, in 1947 to Italy and Switzerland and Provence, in 1948 to London and in 1949 to Mallorca in Spain. That same year their son Sebastien joined the family and inspired the artist with new themes.