Paul de Longpré
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Paul de Longpré | |
|---|---|
 Portrait circa 1909 | |
| Born | Paul-Gaston-Raoul-Henry-Georges Maucherat de Longpré 1855 |
| Died | June 29, 1911 (aged 55–56) |
| Known for | Paintings of flowers |
| Notable work |
|
| Movement | Realism |
| Spouse | Josephine de Longpré |
Paul de Longpré (April18, 1855 - June 29, 1911) was a French-born American painter who specialized in floral still life's and botanical watercolors. Renowned in his era as "Le Roi des Fleurs" (The King of Flowers), de Longpré gained widespread fame for his delicate, realistic portrayals of living flowers, often depicted alongside insects (Bumblebees), dramatic light, and intricate accessories like woven baskets or cut-glass vases. After establishing a career in Paris and New York, he relocated to Southern California in 1899, where his Moorish estate and three-acre garden in Hollywood became the town's first major tourist destination.
Biography
[edit]Early Life and Family
[edit]Paul de Longpré was born at six o'clock in the morning on April 18, 1855, in Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon, France. He belonged to a family with a deep artistic and literary roots.[1]
- Clément-François Maucherat de Longpré (Paternal Grandfather): A writer and librarian in Lyon who was arrested around 1815 after authoring controversial political pamphlets.[1]
- Jean-Antoine-Marie-Victor Maucherat de Longpré (Father, b. March 16, 1811): A draftsman who designed floral patterns for Lyon's famous silk looms, with 147 of his original drawings preserved in the Musée des Tissus.[1]
- Marie-Thérèse Pinchaud (Mother): A French Creole heiress whose dowry was later squandered by her husband.[1]
- Raoul-Henry-Victor-Maurice Maucherat de Longpré (Younger Brother): Achieved acclaim as a painter of floral still life's.[1]
When Paul was eight years old, his family moved to Paris. Due financial hardships, young Paul received only about 15 months of formal schooling before entering the workforce at age ten, working up to sixteen hours a day assisting his father and brothers at the silk looms.[1]
Despite his lack of formal academic schooling, de Longpré was a natural artist and largely self-taught, and that he began to sketch and paint as early as age ten or twelve. As a schoolboy, he knew his classmates had wealthy parents, and earned money selling sketches of little flowers nestled in meadow grass.[2] By age twelve, he was painting field flowers, songbirds, and daisies on silk and ivory fans in Paris, earning between $20 and $30 per day.[3] By his late teens, he had earned a strong reputation as an industrial textile designer and received personal guidance from French academic master Jean-Léon Gérôme and Léon Bonnat.[4][5]
Life in Hollywood
[edit]De Longpré arrived in Los Angeles, Southern California with his family in 1899. Daeida Wilcox, with husband H. H. Wilcox the founders of Hollywood, was so eager to attract culture to the town that she gave him her homesite for his estate, three lots on Cahuenga on the north of Prospect (later Hollywood Boulevard),[6] in exchange for three of his paintings.[7]
In 1901, Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois designed a landmark residence for the 3-acre (1.2 ha) estate, in the Mission Revival style.[8] The house included an art gallery to sell prints of de Longpré's paintings, and was surrounded by the expansive "Le Roi de Fleur" flower gardens. Estate tours became a popular tourist destination off an exclusive Balloon Route trolley spur of the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad, that later became a Pacific Electric Redcar line, and with print sales additional sources of income for de Longpré.
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Paul de Longpré is listed in the 1900 US Census, Los Angeles City Ward 5, Precincts 38 B and 73 A, with his wife Josephine and daughters Blance, Alice, and Pauline. His occupation is listed as Artist, but the last name is misspelled as De Lonpre, It indicates Paul, Josephine, Blance, and Alice were born in France, and Pauline was born in New York City. The architect Louis Bourgeois also taught French to de Longpré's daughters, and later married his daughter Alice.
Paul de Longpré died at home in Los Angeles at age 56, on 29 June 1911.
Afterwards, the family moved back to France. The increased property values in rapidly developing Hollywood resulted in demolition of the gardens by 1924, and the house in 1927.
Works
[edit]
De Longpré only painted specimens of flowers.[9] With a delicacy of touch and feeling for color he united scientific knowledge and art. He also knew how to give expression to the subtle essence of the flowers. Painting floral scenes almost exclusively in watercolors, in the 1900s de Longpre found inspiration in the 4,000 rose bushes he planted on his Hollywood estate. The finest of his paintings include Double Peach Blossoms and White Fringed Poppies (1902) – both widely known through popular reproductions.
Legacy
[edit]Hollywood's De Longpre Avenue and De Longpre Park are both named after Paul de Longpré.[10]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Family Genealogy & Early Apprenticeship: Archives du Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon, Fonds Maucherat de Longpré: Dessins de Fabrique et Documents Familiaux.
- ↑ "Paul de Longpre, the King of Flower Painter," Woman's home companion, May 1905,21.
- ↑ Moses King, A California Paradise-Home Gardens, and Studio of Paul de Longpre, the Pre-Eminent Flower Artist: Hollywood, Superb Suburb of Los Angles (New York: M. King, 1904), unpaginated
- ↑ Fleurs de Lyon, 1807-1917, 248.
- ↑ Paris Academic Training: Atelier Records of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Léon Bonnat, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
- ↑ "Paul de Longpre". Under the Hollywood Sign Blog. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ↑ Fielding, Mantle; Doran, Genevieve C. (1974). Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers (Revised ed.). Green Farms, Connecticut: Modern Books and Crafts. p. 219. ISBN 9780913274033.
- ↑ Caslon, Bradford (28 February 2011). "Paul De Longpre, The King of Flower Painters". Old Homes of Los Angeles Blog. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ↑ Wolfe, Wellington C. (1902). Men of California. Pacific art Company. p. 258.
- ↑ "De Longpre Park". L.A. Parks Foundation.org. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Paul de Longpré". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
Further reading
[edit]- Williams, Gregory Paul (2005). The Story of Hollywood. BL Press.
External links
[edit]
- Paul de Longpré exhibition catalogs
- Artwork by Paul de Longpré
- Image-archeology.com: Paul de Longpre residence and gardens photographs
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1855 births
- 1911 deaths
- 19th-century American painters
- 19th-century French painters
- 20th-century American painters
- 20th-century French painters
- Painters from Los Angeles
- French flower artists
- French emigrants to the United States
- Painters from Lyon
- Artists from Hollywood, Los Angeles
- 19th-century American male painters
- 20th-century American male painters
- 19th-century French male painters
- 20th-century French male painters