André Vignoles was a self-taught painter, and decorated ceramics in Vallauris and Paris. In about 1946 he attended the independent ateliers of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. With the aid of a state scholarship he went to Spain in 1953 where he worked in El Greco's House and in the Toledo area.
An ordinary and a council member of the Salon d'Automne in Paris, he has been a regular participant in exhibitions there since 1948. From 1951 to 1959 he took part regularly in the Salon des Jeunes Peintres, where he was also a committee member in 1955. He was a regular participant in the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-arts, of which he was also a member, the Salon des Tuileries, the Salon Comparaisons, the Salon Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui, the Salon des Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps, and the Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l'Eau.
His large compositions, or polyptychs, painted using classical techniques, with Poussin as a sentimental point of reference but revitalised by Impressionism, depict bathers on the beach and in waves at Biarritz, or rather surprisingly, visitors to the Louvre standing in front of Poussin's Rape of the Sabine Women, or Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus, merging the postures of painted figures with those of the living. These large compositions were generally intended for the Salon d'Automne but he more frequently painted landscapes. He favoured the landscapes of the Biarritz region but also painted series around Toledo, Sorrento, Paestum, Pompeii and Capri. While he is at ease with the harmony of slightly acid colours first admired in Poussin's work, his sense of nature, which had become more acute though Impressionism, is more vibrant and vivid.
Solo exhibitions of his paintings have been held at Galerie Monique de Groote, Paris, in 1955 and 1958; in London in 1961 and 1965; at the Wally Findlay Gallery, Palm Beach, in Chicago and New York since 1977 and in Paris in 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988 and 1991. For a long time he had an American dealer, which meant that he was isolated from the French market.
Museum and Gallery Holdings
Paris (FMAC): Hanging Fruit (Les Fruits suspendus) (1954); Landscape of Cadière d'Azur (Paysage de la Cadière d'Azur) (1955); Still-life (Nature morte) (1957)
Auction Records
Paris, 17 Oct 1990: Table Decorated with Flowers (Table fleurie) (1956, oil on canvas, 25½ × 32 ins/65 × 81 cm) FRF 4,000
New York, 12 June 1991: Poppies (oil on canvas, 16 × 13 ins/40.6 × 33 cm) USD 2,310
Paris, 19 Nov 1991: Still-life with Landscape Picture (1961, oil on canvas, 45 × 57½ ins/114 × 146 cm) FRF 9,500
New York, 10 Nov 1992: Road to Monfort-L'Amaury (oil on canvas, 35 × 45½ ins/89 × 115.6 cm) USD 3,850
New York, 24 Feb 1994: Still-life (1961, oil on canvas, 21¼ × 25½ ins/54 × 64.8 cm) USD 1,150
Paris, 7 June 1996: Field Flowers (oil on canvas, 26¾ × 34¼ ins/68 × 87 cm) FRF 4,100
London, 3 Dec 1999: In the Waves (oil on canvas, 77 × 51 ins/195 × 129 cm) GBP 2,000
New York, 15 Feb 2000: Still-life with Strawberries (1967, oil on canvas, 24 × 18 ins/61 × 46 cm) USD 2,200
New York, 7 Nov 2000: Bouquet with Two Pink Carnations (oil on canvas) USD 1,800
Florida, 17 April 2001: Allée aux Capucines at Giverny (oil on canvas, 64 × 52 ins/163 × 132 cm) USD 2,200
Detroit, 14 Dec 2001: Summer Landscape (1959, oil on canvas, 7 × 9 ins/18 × 24 cm) USD 1,750
London, 3 Feb 2003: Still-life with Strawberries and Bottle of Wine (1961, oil on canvas, 29 × 37 ins/73 × 93 cm) GBP 1,100
New York, 25 Feb 2004: Undergrowth (1959, oil on canvas, 19 × 29 ins/49 × 73 cm) USD 3,200
New York, 25 Feb 2004: Still-life (1958, oil on canvas, 19 × 26 ins/48 × 65 cm) USD 3,800
Bibliography
A. Vignoles: l'espace d'un été, exhibition catalogue, Wally Findlay Gall., Paris, 1983.
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André Vignoles: de Florence au lac Trasimène, exhibition catalogue, Wally Findlay Gall., Paris, 1985.
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André Vignoles. Saisons et espaces, exhibition catalogue, Wally Findlay Gall., Paris, 1988.
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André Vignoles: la Campanie et la mer d'Italie, exhibition catalogue, Wally Findlay Gall., Paris, 1991.
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