On the beach

010059 Henry SAINT - CLAIR [1899-1990]

"On the beach"

sign "h s'clair"

Henry Saint - Clair was born in Pas de Calais in Normandy in 1899. He was raised in wealthy family. Henry's first job oportunity was a position of the restaurateur in National French Museum, at that time he was responsible for the art in Louvre, for instance. Over the time he moved to Sotteville-sur-Mer, which was located near Honfleur seaside. His artistic ouvre was halted only during the World War II and time of German occupation. His main compositions were genre scenes based in the Normandy seaside, which captures family acctivities. Just like Manet, Clair gladly painted tourists in Deuville, Honfleur and Trouville resorts. In the compositions he was juxtaposing expressive, intense people figures and blurry backgrounds. Saint - Clair is said to be a postimpressionism, influenced by Eugene Boudin ( born in Normandy, the master of cloudy skies), Raoul Dufy (energetic, bright colouristic). He was working in atelier in Honfleur with, mentioned earlier - Raul Dofy (1877-1953), Andre Hamburg (1909-1999), Fernand Herbo (1905-1995) and Jacques Bouyssou (1925-1997). He died in 1990.