French, 1909-1999

Having studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs and the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Lucien Simon, Parisien born Andre Hambourg, known for his luminous landscapes and seascapes, became a dedicated painter beginning 1927. During the 1930s, he worked in studios in Montparnasse where he had much exposure to modernist movements and its artists. During World War II, he served as a journalist for France and also did much painting from his extensive travels in that capacity, especially to Morocco and Algiers. Towards the end of the war, he fought for the liberation of France.

In 1951, his distinguished reputation as "the grand gentleman of French Post-Impressionism" (Christina) was underscored with his receipt of the Cross of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. In 1961, he was honored with the Grande Medaille de Vermeil of the City of Paris, a circular medal with an engraving of the city given as recognition of success in fine art.

Exhibitions have been devoted to Hambourg in Paris, Algeria, Oran, Casa Blanca, Rabat, Honfleur, Trouville, London, Brussels, New York, Palm Beach, Chicago, and retrospectives of his work have been organized by the city of Trouville in 1964 and in 1973, as well as the Maison de la Culture in Bourges in 1970, the Museum of Antibes in 1974, and the Marine Museum in Paris in 1977.

Hambourg, who also did illustration, worked in the mediums of oils, pastels, watercolors, drawings, lithography, engraving, fresco and ceramics.

Museum collections in Paris with work by Andre Hambourg include the Musée National d'Art Moderne and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville. His painting is also in the Eugene Boudin Museum in Honfleur. Other museums which conserve works by Andre Hambourg include the museums in Pau, Saint-Quentin, Trouville, Algeria, and Oran. Hambourg was married to the daughter of Boudin (1824-1898), famous French marine painter.