Alon Zakaim Fine Art

Charles Camoin was born in Marseille on 23 September of 1879. After the death of his father, he was brought up by his mother alone, whose endless travels seem to have affected his studies. At 16 he simultaneously enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, which he attended in the morning, and at the Ecole de Commerce. After winning a prize for drawing, he was encouraged by his mother to enter Gustave Moreau’s studio at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which he did in May 1898, shortly before Moreau’s death. Although he barely had time to derive any benefit from Moreau’s teaching, he formed several lasting friendships among fellow students later associated with Fauvism: Manguin, Puy, Rouault, Matisse and especially Marquet, with whose work his own shows marked affinities.

His success was so immediate that he was able to finance his studies with awards he won in his first painting competition. Camoin specialised in many areas, including the painting of beautiful still lives with intense colouration and simple figurative designs in a variety of formats.

His first exhibition, held when he was twenty-five, was put on at Bert Weill in Paris and he also exhibited at the Salon d'Automne from 1905. Camoin's career was highly successful and he received the ultimate French artistic accolade when he became an officer of the Legion d'Honneur in 1955. Major exhibitions of his work were held in 1931 at the Museum of Rouen, in 1952 at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, in Chicago in 1960 and in 1961 in New York.

Camoin died in Paris in May 1965.

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