Born in 1878 in the countryside town of Bourron-Marlotte (France), Paul Jouve grows up in Paris. Influenced and supported by his father, Auguste Jouve (1854-1936) – a painter, photographer and ceramist – he starts drawing at an early age. Animal life subjects fascinate him and it is first and foremost visible through his different approaches of cats. Prior to his studies and his important artistic career, feline figure is already a preferred subject : his cat is a model for his first drawings. He wins an award in 1907 leading him to be the first resident at the Abd-el-tif villa in Alger. It shows the success encountered by his work at an early stage. The commission received two years earlier to illustrate Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book is another example of this recognition. In 1925, he is rewarded with the great prize of the Exposition universelle des art décoratifs and becomes a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1945. His works are today amongst the greatest museum collections worldwide.
Paul Jouve (1878-1973)
Jaguar noir assis, 1930
Paul Jouve travels a lot during his long career : he visits Africa and North Africa, Middle-East, Far-East and America. He brings back from his peregrinations numerous and impressive drawing studies. He sketches from life in great european zoos. Resting or moving, wrestling with their pray or sleeping, his tigers, jaguars, lions or panthers have a very strong presence on the paper. When replacing Paul Jouve in the painting section of the Académie des Beaux-Arts on January 22th 1975, Bernard Buffet describes his predecessor’s work as trying "to give life to his models through their volumes rather than with their linear aspect."
On Wednesday 20th of June, PIASA will auction one of Paul Jouve’s iconic cats : his "Jaguar noir assis" - Black jaguar sitting. This colored lithograph is an artist print showing a cat in all his might. With two paws strong and upfront and lowered ears, the jaguar roars. The fur is mottled with dark patches and the curving tail recalls almost symetrically the head contour. The cat is alone on a neutral background and its size and position as well as its energy inhabit the space. This expression could recall the intensity in some great sculptures of Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875).
