Gen Paul French, 1895-1975

Eugène Paul—known as Gen Paul—was born on July 2, 1895, on Rue Lepic in Montmartre, the son of an embroiderer and a musician. After obtaining his primary school certificate in 1908, he became an apprentice upholsterer. He developed a passion for drawing at an early age, attending evening classes and visiting the Louvre every Sunday.

World War I marked a turning point in Gen Paul’s life. First, he lost his job as an upholsterer and was compelled to enlist in the infantry in Antibes in 1914. During this time, he earned a little money by sketching portraits of his fellow soldiers. His life changed drastically in 1915 when a gunshot wound, followed by gangrene, resulted in the amputation of his right leg. He was subsequently demobilized in 1916, allowing him to return to Montmartre. He settled permanently in a small building on Impasse Girardon and married Fernande Pierquet. To cope with his pain, he turned to alcohol just as much as to painting. He sold his first canvas—a view of the Moulin de la Galette as seen from his window—to an antique dealer.

Over the following years, he began to forge ties with Montmartre artists, most notably Utrillo. These artists supported him, even providing him with painting supplies such as old brushes and tubes of paint. He thus became part of the Bateau-Lavoir circle. Ragueneau, the antique dealer who had bought his first painting, began purchasing his entire output, particularly his views of Paris. He started painting his first portraits in the 1920s, notably of clowns. During this same period, he traveled widely—to Spain and the Basque Country, but also to the United States, traversing the country from New York to New Orleans via California.

From 1924 onwards, Gen Paul began to move away from Montmartre influences to develop his own distinctive style. In doing so, he distorted his subjects and painted with vigorous movement. This new approach owed much to his time at the Prado, where he was deeply influenced by the aesthetic impact of works by Velázquez and, above all, Goya. A passionate music lover, he met various professional musicians who fueled his inspiration; indeed, portraits of musicians became one of his favorite subjects.

He was prolific in his output until 1930. In 1928, the Bing Gallery exhibited his work alongside that of Picasso, Rouault, Braque, and Soutine—artists he had not yet even met. A contract signed with the art dealer Bernheim was terminated as early as 1929, a casualty of the stock market crash.

The following decade was marked by his close relationship with the writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline. A circle formed around them and Marcel Aymé—comprising classical and jazz musicians, doctors, writers, and actors from the Comédie-Française—who would gather in his studio. In 1942, the publisher Denoël commissioned him to illustrate two of Céline’s novels: Voyage au bout de la nuit and Mort à crédit. Their friendship ended after 1944.

This period was also marked by personal loss with the death of his wife, Fernande, in 1939. Having taken refuge in Sanary with Marcel Duchamp, Moïse Kisling, and Daragnès during the war, he devoted himself entirely to painting, notably beginning a series of nudes.

Gen Paul died in Paris in 1975. Several exhibitions were dedicated to him after his death; the most significant took place in 1995—marking the centenary of his birth—at the Couvent des Cordeliers, bringing together around a hundred major works from his Expressionist period (1924–1930). His paintings are now held in the collections of museums in Bern and Granville, as well as in the reserves of the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris.