Charles Camoin as a child, circa 1886, Archives Camoin
1879
Born in Marseille on the 23rd of September, son of Joseph Camoin (1846-1885), head of a painting and decoration business, and Marie née Legros (1848-1930), painter and pastellist. He was the youngest of four siblings.
1885–1886
The family settles in Paris, living at 72 Boulevard Saint-Michel. Joseph Camoin dies, Marie Camoin is left alone with four children under the guardianship of their uncle, Émile Camoin.
Spends a few months with his mother and sister Jeanne in Venice, staying with one of his mother’s sisters, Madame de Costanzo, who lives in a palace on the Grand Canal.
1887-1891
Returns to Marseille to live with his grandmother. His mother is frequently absent. Enrolls in 13 different high schools, including those of Nice and Cannes, where he is a boarder.
1892-1894
Lives in Paris with his mother, first in Boulevard de Clichy, then Rue de Douai. Takes lessons at the Lycée Montaigne.
1895-1896
Returns to Marseille where his uncle Émile enrolls him in a business school. Attends the morning classes at the École des Beaux-Arts in parallel, where he is awarded the First Prize in Figure Drawing.
Charles Camoin, circa 1902, Archives Camoin
Late 1897
Moves to Paris with his mother. They live in Rue de Châteaudun, then Rue de Courcelle. She encourages him to enroll at the École des Beaux-Arts where he joins Gustave Moreau’s studio in January. Becomes friends with Albert Marquet, Henri Matisse, and Henri Manguin.
1898
Gustave Moreau dies on the 18th of April. Is granted tenure on 2 May and leaves the École des Beaux-Arts when Fernand Cormon is appointed teacher. Enrolls at the Académie Camillo, in Rue de la Grande-Chaumière, where Eugène Carrière corrects the works of students.
November 1900-September 1901
Does his military service and joins the 55th Infantry Regiment as a private soldier in the Arles region. Paints outdoors, revisiting motifs painted by Van Gogh and meets Dr Rey.
October-December 1901
With his regiment stationed in Aix-en-Provence, Camoin takes the opportunity to meet Cézanne. He visits him several times and strikes up a correspondence with him.
January 1902-1903
Is transferred to Avignon as secretary of the general staff in the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
Camoin and his mother Marie, on the balcony of the studio, place Dauphine, Paris, circa 1904, Archives Camoin
1903
In September, returns to Paris where he moves in with his mother at 3 Rue des Pyramides.
Visits Claude Monet in Giverny with a letter of introduction written by Cézanne. Frequently stays in the South of France.
From then on, regularly takes part in the Salon des Indépendants, Salon d’Automne and group exhibitions (with Manguin, Matisse, Marquet, Puy, Mathan, etc.) such as those organised at the Galerie Berthe Weill in Montmartre.
1904
Settles in a new studio with his mother at 28 Place Dauphine, overlooking the Seine and the Louvre.
Stays in Italy (Capri, Naples, and Rome) during the summer, then in Marseille and its vicinity where he visits Cézanne again.
1905
Camoin, Matisse, and Marquet organise a dinner in tribute to Rodin at the Closerie des Lilas on the 6th of April.
Stays in Saint-Tropez during the summer with Marquet and Manguin, then in Agay and Cassis with Marquet.
Exhibits at the Salon d’Automne, in room VII, the notorious ‘cage aux Fauves’ (wild beasts cage), with Derain, Girieud, Manguin, Marquet, Matisse, and Vlaminck.
1906
Stays in Corsica in January-February. Spends the summer in Marseille and its vicinity where Signac comes to see him. Visits Cézanne in September.
Takes part in the first exhibition of the Cercle de l’Art moderne in Le Havre.
Cézanne dies on the 22nd of October.
1907
Moves to Montmartre with his mother, in a studio at 27 Boulevard de Clichy, then 6 Rue Mansart.
Travels in May to London with Marquet and Friesz, and to Spain during the summer (Madrid, Sevilla, Grenada, Barcelona). Spends the winter in Menton, Nice, and Toulon.
Marquet, Camoin and Matisse, Marquet’s studio, 19 quai Saint-Michel, Paris, circa 1910, Archives Camoin
Camoin and Marquet, Marquet’s studio, 19 quai Saint-Michel, Paris, circa 1910, Archives Camoin
1908
Settles in a new studio located at 14, then 12 Rue Cortot. Starts a relationship with the painter Émilie Charmy.
Stays in Cassis and La Ciotat during the winter, in Marseille and Cassis in the summer.
First solo exhibition in April at the Galerie Kahnweiler in Paris. Signs a contract with the German art dealer Ludwig Schames based in Frankfurt.
1909
Spends the spring and summer in Lyon, Toulon, and Porquerolles with Charmy.
1910
Moves to a new studio located at 46 Rue Lepic.
Stays in Corsica between January and May with Charmy, and in Frankfurt in November.
Takes part in most of the international avant-garde shows (Salon de la Libre Esthétique in Brussels, Galerie Mánes in Prague, Sonderbund and Secession exhibitions in Germany, Salon du Valet de Carreau in Moscow, Armory Show in the United-States, etc.), particularly in Germany where his work is noticed by Expressionist painters such as August Macke.
1912
Takes part in the first Salon de Mai in Marseille. Signs a contract with the art dealer Eugène Druet in whose gallery he has regularly exhibited since 1908.
Breaks up with Charmy.
Stays in Collioure with Marquet during the summer. Travels to Tangier from the end of November 1912 to the end of March 1913. Joins Matisse who has been working there since October.
1913
At the end of March, returns to Marseille where he meets the painters Mathieu Verdilhan, Alfred Lombard, and Victor Audibert. Stays in La Ciotat, and Cassis with Verdilhan and Manguin, then in Toulon and Martigues during the summer and autumn.
1914
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Druet in Paris.
In June, destroys the totality of the canvases stored in his studio in the Rue Lepic (around 80). The paintings are cut into pieces and binned before being collected by ragpickers who sell them at the flea market.
Camoin, soldier in the 115th Infantry Regiment, 1914, Archives Camoin
1914-1918
Is enlisted in the 115th Infantry Regiment on the 2nd of August and sent as a stretcher bearer to the Vosges front line.
He is appointed as the major’s cycle courier in March 1915. Matisse sends him a bicycle.
In January 1916, joins the 13th Artillery Regiment in the Camouflage Section in Amiens where he meets the writer Charles Vildrac, the sculptor Charles Despiau, and the painters André Mare and Albert Eiffel. In September 1917, is assigned to the Camouflage Section, in Noyon, led by André Dunoyer de Segonzac and Albert Brabo.
In December 1917, his sister Élise is committed to a mental institution. He has to look after his mother alone.
1918
Suffers from dizziness and phobias. On leave in Nice, visits Renoir in his house at Les Collettes in Cagnes-sur-Mer, with Matisse.
Camoin, circa 1920, Archives Camoin
Lola, Suzanne Prost (Dédé), Camoin and his mother Marie Camoin, Villa Valflor, Saint-Tropez, 1922, Archives Camoin
1919
Demobilised on the 14th of January, returns to his studio at 46 Rue Lepic in Montmartre.
Meets Charlotte Prost (Lola), aged 28, daughter of an engineer of ‘the Ponts et Chaussées’, just back from the United-States where she spent part of the war pursuing her studies.
Regularly takes part in Salons.
1920
Marries Lola in Marseille in March.
Spends the summer in the area around Aix where he paints outdoors, revisiting Cézanne’s motifs. At the beginning of October, stays in the Fontainebleau region, in December, in Toulon, Le Brusc, and Antibes.
1921
Spends the winter in Cannes and Saint-Tropez. Buys the Villa Val-Flor in Saint-Tropez in July. Camoin and Lola divide their time between Montmartre and Saint-Tropez, and frequently stay in the South of France.
Signs a contract with the art dealers Charles Vildrac and Marcel Bernheim. Solo exhibition at the Galerie Marcel Bernheim in Paris.
1923
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris.
1925
Moves to a new studio at 2 bis Avenue Junot. Keeps it until his death. Sells the Villa Val-Flor to Dunoyer de Segonzac and rents a house in the Saint-Tropez port, next to Sénéquier.
Solo exhibitions at the Galerie Aktuarius in Strasbourg and at the Galerie Marcel Bernheim.
Beginning of the trial against Francis Carco who tried to sell his paintings destroyed in 1914 at the Drouot auction house. The trial lasted until 1931, when the court ruled in favour of the painter.
1926
Stays in Marseille during the summer.
1927
Stays in Saint-Tropez and Marseille during the winter, and in Brittany with Jean Puy and the Marquets during the summer.
1928
Rents a room on Quai Rive-Neuve in Marseille during the spring of 1928.
1929
Undergoes hernia surgery in May. Stays in Geneva in December.
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Druet.
Photomatons with Camoin and Marquet, Lola, Camoin, circa 1930, Archives Camoin
1930
His mother, to whom he was very close, dies in Marseille on the 24th of May.
Travels with the Marquets, in February to Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Grenada, Sevilla) and to Boulogne-sur-Mer in August.
1931
Stays in Saint-Tropez during the spring, in Brittany with the Eiffels during the summer. During the winter, he returns to Saint-Tropez where Berthe Signac’s jubilee is celebrated.
The exhibition Camoin and Marquet is organised at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen.
1932
Stays in Brittany in July.
1933
Birth of his daughter Anne-Marie (Annie) on the 12th of October.
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Bernheim.
1934
Financially harrowing years.
Stays in Switzerland with the Eiffels during the summer, and in Marseille in September.
1935
Stays in Verdelot with the Eiffels during the summer, then in Saint-Tropez.
Camoin registers for unemployment in November.
1936
Lives in Marseille, then Saint-Tropez, at La Cantine, a house on the Canoubiers Bay lent by the collector Georges Grammont. Colette, who lives at La Treille Muscate, is his neighbour.
1937
The exhibition Albert Marquet, Charles Camoin is organised at the Galerie Mignon-Massart in Nantes.
1939
An exhibition celebrating Paul Cézanne’s centenary is held at the Salon des Indépendants where Camoin exhibits the painting La Saltimbanque au repos, which is slashed the day before the opening. After this incident, Camoin no longer shows his work at the Salon des Indépendants.
Camoin, the Place de l’Ormeau studio, Saint-Tropez, circa 1942, Archives Camoin
Camoin and his daughter Annie, Paris, circa 1943, Archives Camoin
1940-1943
Moves to Saint-Tropez with his family during the war, lives at La Cantine until 1943. Rents a studio on Place de l’Ormeau.
Quarrel with Dunoyer de Segonzac over his involvement in the propaganda trip to Germany organised for French artists. Regularly visits Matisse in Cimiez (Nice) and Bonnard in Le Cannet.
During the war, a few of his paintings are sold in the zone libre in Lyon and in Southwest France, by Monsieur Loup, a friend of the painter Jean Launois. The exhibition Camoin-Jean Puy, paintings and pastels is held at the Galerie des Jacobins in Lyon in 1942.
1943
The Camoin family returns to Paris in October.
An exhibition of small-format works is organised at the Galerie Louis Carré in November.
1945
The Marquets return to France, in La Frette-sur-Seine. Camoin regularly visits them until Marquet’s death. Stays in Brittany in July with the Eiffels, then in Saint-Tropez.
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris.
1946
Rents a studio on the port of Saint-Tropez, at 4 Rue Suffren. Keeps it until his death.
Charles Camoin, les Maîtres de l’estampe française contemporaine is published by the ‘éditions Rombaldi’ with 10 original prints (preface by Jean Alazard).
1947
Bonnard dies on the 23rd of January and Marquet on the 12th of June.
Camoin is awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honour in September.
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Charpentier.
1948
Stays in the Aix region during the summer.
1949
Manguin dies on the 25th of September.
Stays in Brittany with the Eiffels.
Camoin in the heights of Saint-Tropez, 1950, Archives Camoin
Camoin in front of his car-atelier Cocotte, Ramatuelle, 1956-1957, Archives Camoin
1950
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Charpentier.
1951
Stays in Corsica.
The exhibition Fauvism is organised at the Musée national d’Art moderne in Paris and a solo exhibition at the Galerie J.-M Vidal in Paris.
1953
Stays in the Avignon region in April.
1954
Matisse dies on the 3rd of November.
1955
Stays in Italy (Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice).
Is made an officer of the Legion of Honour and awarded the Grand Prix at the Menton Biennale.
Solo exhibition at the Galerie André Romanet in Paris.
1956
Stays at the hotel Méditerranée in Cannes during the winter.
Charles Vildrac publishes Éloge de Charles Camoin (Paris, Manuel Brucker). Solo exhibitions at the Galerie André Maurice and the Galerie René Drouet in Paris.
1957
Visits Jean Puy, in Roanne, with whom he keeps up an extensive correspondence. Stays in Cannes and in Nice, returns to Saint-Tropez.
1958
Retrospective exhibition at the Galerie Marcel Bernheim.
1959
Is appointed Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Retrospective exhibition at the Galerie Abels in Köln.
Camoin working on a pastel, Atelier de Saint-Tropez, 1963, Archives Camoin
Camoin at the inauguration of the Galerie Michel André, Paris, March 1964, Archives Camoin
1960
Jean Puy dies on the 6th of March.
Stays in the Aix region during the spring.
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Robert Schneider in Paris.
1961
Retrospective at the Hammer Galleries in New York where he goes with Lola.
1962
Stays in Aix at the hotel Le Pigonnet.
An exhibition in tribute to Camoin is held at the Salon d’Automne.
The exhibition Les Fauves is organised at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris in March, and Gustave Moreau and his students at the Musée Cantini in Marseille in June. Camoin is the last surviving member of Moreau’s studio.
1963
Stays in Aix during the summer.
1964
Stays in Aix in June.
1965
Dies in his studio in Montmartre on the 20th of May. Rests in the Saint-Pierre Cemetery in Marseille. Lola outlives him by 23 years (she died in 1988).
Solo exhibition at the Galerie André in Paris.
1966
Retrospective exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille.
1967
Retrospective exhibition at the Beilin Gallery in New York. It travels to Venezuela.
1971
Retrospective exhibition Charles Camoin, seventy years of painting, at the Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice.
1972
Danièle Giraudy writes the first major monograph devoted to Charles Camoin, published by ‘La Savoisienne’.
