Auguste Matisse 1866-1931

Son and grandson of merchants from the Nièvre region, Auguste Matisse first enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Dijon before continuing his training at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he became a pupil of Léon Bonnat. However, nothing is known about his masters in the art of stained glass, in which he would later distinguish himself. Listed as a painter as early as 1895 in the Annuaire-almanach du commerce published by Didot-Bottin, he became the same year a member of the Société des artistes français. He participated in all Salons until 1931, the year of his death. Gradually overshadowed by the rising figure of Fauvism, Auguste Matisse was progressively marginalized and confined to the depiction of seascapes, a field in which he ultimately gained recognition and was honored with the title of official painter of the French Navy in 1924.

From around 1895–1900, Auguste Matisse spent every summer in his house-studio, “La Corderie,” on the island of Bréhat, where he hosted friends and students. On the island, his neighbors included André Vermare, a Prix de Rome-winning sculptor who had built a house at Pen-ar-Bout, and the painter and engraver Gustave Bourgain, who had a villa in the rocks of the Anse de Guerzido. His work is still represented on Bréhat in the former property of François Saudinos, a Parisian manufacturer and dealer of religious art objects from rue Saint-Sulpice, who in 1919 entrusted him with decorating his living room, commissioning paintings to be set into the wood paneling as well as stained glass panels for the two entrance doors.

Auguste Matisse died suddenly in his Bréhat studio in September 1931, struck down by a stroke while working at the age of 65. He is buried in the communal cemetery of the island.