Contemporary Artists | Period Artists (A-H) | Period Artists (H-Z)

Gen Paul (1895-1975)

In Raymond Nacenta’s book “School of Paris”, Eugène Paul, known as Gen Paul, is described as a “genuine son of Montmartre”.  Born July 2, 1895, on rue Lepic, the same street of Montmartre where Van Gogh had stayed with his brother Théo, Gen Paul’s early life was spent in that area of Paris where the Impressionist revolution was born and where Fauvism and the more contemporary school of Cubism was formulated.

The Moulin de la Galette, Place Pigalle, Place du Tertre were everyday sights for Gen Paul.  The Bateau-Lavoir was well established as the meeting place of independent painters and writers of the early 1900’s.  Picasso, Braque, Metzinger, Juan Gris, along with Van Dongen, Matisse, Derain, and Dufy were among the distinguished company which gathered there.

Although Gen Paul received no formal, academic art training, it is apparent from his work as it developed that his exposure to the innovators of Montmartre had great influence on his painting style.  This influence seemed to take two diverse directions which he pursued with equal vitality, adapting them at will to specific subject matter.

Unlike many painters who pursued one stylistic formula for a given period and later developed into another, Gen Paul seems to have worked in both directions concurrently - the Cubist-oriented phase and one of simplified, fragmented realism reminiscent of Raoul Dufy.  Structurally, Gen Paul’s Cubism was less severe, less firmly organized and less sharp-edged than that of the originators of the movement.  Moreover a joyous spontaneity, a warmth of high-keyed color and a fluid quality characterized Gen Paul’s application of Cubist principles.  His non-Cubist work repeats in a different fashion the same rhythmic vigor of his cubist compositions.

From the beginning Gen Paul’s major enthusiasm and interest was painting.  He made no effort to build a career in any other field than art and started to make a living from his paintings the hard way, with no academic or professional nucleus to help him launch his work.  He started by selling his work on café terraces in Montmartre, finally winning a chance for a first exhibition at Bing’s in 1926.  The Galerie Bernheim took his work, arranged exhibitions and helped greatly in making him known in Paris.  In 1952, the retrospective exhibition of his watercolors and oils at Galerie Dourant-David was another important milestone in broadening his base of recognition, combined with increasing participation in group shows outside of France.

Though he was original and vigorous both as a draftsman and a colorist, Gen Paul was never a standard bearer for any new art movement.  At no point, was he a theoretical crusader trying to further any one style of painting.  He  always loved the act of painting and pursued his own work with vigorous freshness.  As a consequence his paintings, both in oil and in watercolor, have a quality of spontaneity, verve and color vitality which are savored with great pleasure.