Diane Esmond (16 April 1910 - 27 May 1981) was a French painter whose main works were in the tradition of Post-Impressionism. She worked in or near Paris for the major part of her artistic career. Before World War II, she exhibited her figural paintings (circus and café scenes) in group shows in Paris. She spent the war years in New York, returning to Paris in the mid-1950s and extending her subject matter to include still lifes, cityscapes, and landscapes that were shown in solo exhibitions in New York and various European cities. At the culmination of her career her work evolved toward the abstract evocation of tropical forests. She also designed sets and costumes for theatrical productions.
The French artist Diane Esmond was born in London on 16 April 1910 and raised in Paris. Her parents were Edward Esmond (né Ezra), a native of British India descended from David Joseph Ezra, and Valentine née Deutsch de la Meurthe, who was French. She studied in the 1930s with the French artist Édouard Georges Mac-Avoy, [1] and participated in group exhibitions in Paris in those years. Her paintings from that period were seized in 1941 by Nazi occupying forces and removed to the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris. [2] Most of the seized works are listed (in the national archives of Germany at Koblenz) as destroyed, [3] although a few were rescued from a German train in 1944, after the liberation of Paris. [4]
Diane Esmond went through a period of exile in the United States between 1940 and the mid-1950s. She then returned to France, divorcing her husband Dr. Robert Wallis, whom she had married in 1937 and with whom she had two sons. She lived in or near Paris for the rest of her life (marrying the cartoonist Jean Don in 1962), but made working trips to Italy, southern France, and the Caribbean. [5]
Diane Esmond died in Paris on 27 May 1981. [1]
Diane Esmond worked in the tradition of French impressionist and post-impressionist painters, including Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Bonnard, and Braque. Her major subjects were landscapes and still lifes, although her subject matter extended also to scenes of barges on the Seine and of workingmen in cafés. In the 1950s her painting took a turn toward the dramatic, becoming more expressive and laying a greater emphasis on color. [6] Her landscapes (oils, black-and-white ink drawings, and gouaches) were inspired by the French Provençal countryside and by the luxuriant vegetation of Caribbean tropical forests. At the culmination of her artistic career, she used luminous colors in semi-abstract compositions. [7]
Diane Esmond also designed sets and costumes for performances of classic French theater, in collaboration with directors/actors Jean-Louis Barrault, Madeleine Renaud, and Marie Bell. In 1963 she designed the costumes and stage sets for a performance on Broadway of Jean Racine’s Bérénice, performed by the Marie Bell Company. [8]
The group exhibitions in which she participated in Paris in the 1930s included the Salon of French Artists in 1936, [9] the Salon d’Automne in 1935 [10] and the Salon Indépendant National in 1938. [11] From 1950 to 1978 she had solo showings of her paintings in Geneva, New York, Paris, and London, in galleries such as Carstairs, [12] Chardin, [13] Hammer, Knoedler, [14] and Wildenstein. [15]
The online database of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce lists 57 items stolen from the Esmond house in Paris that were kept at the Jeu de Paume Nazi sorting house. Of these, several are paintings by Diane Esmond slated for destruction, but some of these are illustrated with photographs. A few were recovered but the majority remain missing. The black & white photographs taken in the 1940s can be viewed on the "ERR project" website:
title | date | ERR record |
---|---|---|
Self-portrait with palette | 1935 | 50010 |
Ballet before the performance | 1938 | 18367 |
Still Life with Grapes | 1935 | 51359 |
Green Landscape | 1936 | 51376 |
Woman's portrait in a white blouse | 1936 | 51374 |
Negro child | 1935 | 50009 |
Portrait of a woman playing cards | 1936 | 18357 |
Clown | 1936 | 18357 |
Men in a Bar | 1937 | 18366 |
Female nude from the back | 1935 | 18356 |
Woman with monkey | 1935 | 51375 |
Male nude from the back | 1935 | 18358 |
Cabaret | 1940 | 51377 |
Diane Esmond (16 April 1910 - 27 May 1981) was a French painter whose main works were in the tradition of Post-Impressionism. She worked in or near Paris for the major part of her artistic career. Before World War II, she exhibited her figural paintings (circus and café scenes) in group shows in Paris. She spent the war years in New York, returning to Paris in the mid-1950s and extending her subject matter to include still lifes, cityscapes, and landscapes that were shown in solo exhibitions in New York and various European cities. At the culmination of her career her work evolved toward the abstract evocation of tropical forests. She also designed sets and costumes for theatrical productions.
The French artist Diane Esmond was born in London on 16 April 1910 and raised in Paris. Her parents were Edward Esmond (né Ezra), a native of British India descended from David Joseph Ezra, and Valentine née Deutsch de la Meurthe, who was French. She studied in the 1930s with the French artist Édouard Georges Mac-Avoy, [1] and participated in group exhibitions in Paris in those years. Her paintings from that period were seized in 1941 by Nazi occupying forces and removed to the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris. [2] Most of the seized works are listed (in the national archives of Germany at Koblenz) as destroyed, [3] although a few were rescued from a German train in 1944, after the liberation of Paris. [4]
Diane Esmond went through a period of exile in the United States between 1940 and the mid-1950s. She then returned to France, divorcing her husband Dr. Robert Wallis, whom she had married in 1937 and with whom she had two sons. She lived in or near Paris for the rest of her life (marrying the cartoonist Jean Don in 1962), but made working trips to Italy, southern France, and the Caribbean. [5]
Diane Esmond died in Paris on 27 May 1981. [1]
Diane Esmond worked in the tradition of French impressionist and post-impressionist painters, including Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Bonnard, and Braque. Her major subjects were landscapes and still lifes, although her subject matter extended also to scenes of barges on the Seine and of workingmen in cafés. In the 1950s her painting took a turn toward the dramatic, becoming more expressive and laying a greater emphasis on color. [6] Her landscapes (oils, black-and-white ink drawings, and gouaches) were inspired by the French Provençal countryside and by the luxuriant vegetation of Caribbean tropical forests. At the culmination of her artistic career, she used luminous colors in semi-abstract compositions. [7]
Diane Esmond also designed sets and costumes for performances of classic French theater, in collaboration with directors/actors Jean-Louis Barrault, Madeleine Renaud, and Marie Bell. In 1963 she designed the costumes and stage sets for a performance on Broadway of Jean Racine’s Bérénice, performed by the Marie Bell Company. [8]
The group exhibitions in which she participated in Paris in the 1930s included the Salon of French Artists in 1936, [9] the Salon d’Automne in 1935 [10] and the Salon Indépendant National in 1938. [11] From 1950 to 1978 she had solo showings of her paintings in Geneva, New York, Paris, and London, in galleries such as Carstairs, [12] Chardin, [13] Hammer, Knoedler, [14] and Wildenstein. [15]
The online database of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce lists 57 items stolen from the Esmond house in Paris that were kept at the Jeu de Paume Nazi sorting house. Of these, several are paintings by Diane Esmond slated for destruction, but some of these are illustrated with photographs. A few were recovered but the majority remain missing. The black & white photographs taken in the 1940s can be viewed on the "ERR project" website:
title | date | ERR record |
---|---|---|
Self-portrait with palette | 1935 | 50010 |
Ballet before the performance | 1938 | 18367 |
Still Life with Grapes | 1935 | 51359 |
Green Landscape | 1936 | 51376 |
Woman's portrait in a white blouse | 1936 | 51374 |
Negro child | 1935 | 50009 |
Portrait of a woman playing cards | 1936 | 18357 |
Clown | 1936 | 18357 |
Men in a Bar | 1937 | 18366 |
Female nude from the back | 1935 | 18356 |
Woman with monkey | 1935 | 51375 |
Male nude from the back | 1935 | 18358 |
Cabaret | 1940 | 51377 |