Queer Places:
Académie Julian, Passage des Panoramas, 75002 Paris
3 Place du Palais Bourbon, 75007 Paris, France
Villa Dell'Ombrellino, 50124 Firenze FI, Italia
Marie Joseph Paul Jean de Gaigneron-Morin , born on February 22 , 1890 in
Paris and died in the same city on January 30 , 1976, was a French painter .
In 1919 he had a relationship with
Harold Nicolson,
and he is the inspiration for the Marquis de Chaumont in Some
People: the snobbish Marquis de Chaumont fritters away his talent on the altar
of social success. Jean de Gaigneron is remembered in the diaries of
Ned Rorem.
Jean de Gaigneron, the youngest son of the second marriage of Viscount Marie Paul Philippe Maxime de Gaigneron-Morin with Agnès de Gontaut-Biron (daughter of Élie de Gontaut-Biron ) was born in Paris [ 1 ] on February 22, 1890.
In 1908, he was a pupil at the Académie Julian in Paris [ 2 ] . In 1910, he became a pupil of Othon Friesz .
He performed his military service from October 10, 1911 to November 8, 1913, and was released with the rank of sergeant. Recalled on August 2, 1914, he was demobilized on August 2, 1919, having been injured twice, the second time in 1918 in Morocco. During this Moroccan stay, he first exhibited at the Rabat fair in November 1917 ( "His portraits and his landscapes are of a pretty paste" one observes there) [ 3 ] , then the following year at the Excelsior hotel in Casablanca as part of the general agricultural competition in Morocco [ 4 ] , [ 5 ] .
Self-portrait
La Marchesa Casati, by Jean de Gaigneron
Francis Poulenc by Jean de Gaigneron
Nelly de Contades by Jean de Gaigneron, Nelly de CONTADES (nèe de
Benardaky) was the sister of Marie de Benardaky (1874-1949), the first love of
Marcel Proust. Her sister (Marie) was first married to Prince Michael
Radzivill.
Anna de Noailles, by Jean de Gaigneron, 1910
Jean Giraudoux by Jean de Gaigneron
Speed Lamkin by Jean de Gaigneron
Lionel Benedict Nicolson by Jean de Gaigneron
La Baronne de Cabrol by Jean de Gaigneron
Comtesse Thérése d'Hinnisdal by Jean de Gaigneron
Arthur Mugnier, by Jean de Gaigneron
Vicomtesse de Gaigneron, by Jean de Gaigneron
Marquise de Lévis-Mirepoix, by Jean de Gaigneron
Comtesse Floria d'Huart, by Jean de Gaigneron, 1951
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Villa dell'Ombrellino
Back in France, he participated for the first time in the Salon d'Automne in 1919 - "he brought back from Morocco expressive compositions, carried out in a sober manner, with a beautiful outfit" remarked Émile Sedeyn [ 6 ] - and resumes painting by receiving advice from Jacques-Émile Blanche , developing his taste for portraiture and engaging with him a long and deep friendship: the Custodia Foundation retains the letters written by Jacques-Émile Blanche to Jean de Gaigneron whose dates range from September 1915 to February 1942, as well as a photo of the portrait he painted [ 7 ] .
During the interwar period Jean de Gaigneron was part of Parisian intellectual society, as his presence will state in the receptions of the Rapprochement intellectuel chaired by François-Charles d'Harcourt [ 8 ] . He was a friend in particular of Marcel Proust ( André Maurois [ 9 ] , Guillaume Perrier [ 10 ] and Jean-Yves Tadié , among others, evoke his fervent letter to Jean de Gaigneron about the word "cathedral" used by the artist to define In search of lost time [ 11 ]), of François Mauriac [ 12 ] (the Portrait of François Mauriac by Jean de Gaigneron will remain in the writer's collection until the latter makes the donation to the Jacques-Doucet literary library [ 13 ] ), of Paul Morand [ 14 ] and of Father Arthur Mugnier, whose best portrait , according to Ghislain de Diesbach , is that of Jean de Gaigneron [ 15 ] . In April 1919, he met Sir Harold Nicolson and his wife Vita Sackville-West whom he introduced to Marcel Proust and Jean Cocteau.
From 1928 to 1929, Jean de Gaigneron collaborated in Louise Weiss's review L'Europe nouvelle [ 16 ] in which he wrote articles on Parisian exhibitions, commenting in particular on the works of Maurice de Vlaminck , Hermine David , Henri Matisse or Othon Friesz .
During 1930, during a stay in Italy, he resided in Florence with Violet Trefusis , near Vita Sackville-West, at the villa l'Ombrellino[ 17 ] .
In 1932, he was appointed knight of the Legion of Honor [ 18 ] .
Mobilized in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War , he captained the 248 th Infantry Regiment and was taken prisoner at Saint-Lô ( Frontstalag 131) before being deported to Germany [ 19 ] and released after the armistice 1940.
He died in Paris on January 30, 1976. The sale of its collections and part of its workshop tokk place on April 8 and 9, 1976[ 20 ] , At the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. Another sale from his workshop took place on January 23, 2019[ 21 ] .
His nephew Jean-René de Gaigneron also being a painter, there is confusion over the attribution of certain works.
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