Raymond Normand
Raymond Normand | |
|---|---|
 Raymond Normand, 1998 | |
| Born | 14 November 1919 |
| Died | 12 March 2000 (aged 80) |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Painting |
Raymond Normand (14 November 1919, Auby (Nord) – 12 March 2000, Aix-en-Provence; buried in Ventabren) was a French painter.
Biography
His childhood and his adolescence in the North of France
Raymond Normand was born on 14 November 1919 in Auby, a small industrial village located not far from Douai. He was the second child of Maria Duhem and Just Normand, who already had a daughter, Jeanne, five years older than he. His father had been a miner until he came back mutilated from World War I. Still he managed to work as an electrician. Raymond spent his first ten years in Flers-en-Escrebieux, living on the countryside in contact with nature, peasants and house animals.
From his very early years, he had expressed a devouring passion for drawing and painting. Back in Auby, he attended the high school and the Art School in Douai. However, in 1934, he was forced to interrupt his studies because of a serious bone disease which kept him bedridden for two years. Although he had undergone several surgeries, he had to cope with the aftereffects for the rest of his life. Following his convalescence he decided to leave the high school in order to dedicate himself full-time to his studies at the Art School in Douai.
His discovery of Provence
Because of their son's health, his parents decided to take him to the South of France. They settled in
In 1943, he was sent to Germany to comply with Compulsory Labor Service. Due to his leg problem, he was assigned a job in an office. After his return to France, he worked for farmers and looked after herds of goats in
Fifty years of his life at the Trou du Loup in Ventabren
In 1950, Raymond Normand settled in
Normand was mainly a landscape painter whose wide range of colors depicts the vibrating light and life of an unspoiled nature, as the hours of the day and the seasons of the year go by. The topics of his oil paintings with palette knife or brush, of his dry and soft oil pastels, of his Chinese pen or stick ink works and of his wash-drawings range from the countryside of Lambesc or Grans and the banks of the Touloubre River to the village of Ventabren and surroundings and the banks of the Arc River. Apart from self-portraits, he also painted his mother, father, family, friends and pets, as well as large pastoral scenes with unreal characters and sometimes a few caricatures.
He actually acquired some fame, although, living away from the art market, he did not try to become famous. Not only his friends but also many art collectors from France and abroad have been coming to the Trou du Loup.
Raymond Normand died on 12 March 2000 in Aix-en-Provence. The Town Council of Ventabren, where he was buried, has inherited his properties and works.