Francois Desnoyer

François Desnoyer, born in Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) on September 30, 1894, and died in Saint-Cyprien (Pyrénées-Orientales) on July 21, 1972, is a French painter.

His grandfather, seeing his desire to paint, introduced him to Antoine Bourdelle, a Montalbanian too, who took him under his wing against the advice of his father. He moved to Patris in 1912, and seeks to learn the techniques by all means available.

When the First World War broke out, Desnoyer was part of the first wave. He was wounded in 1917 and appointed sergeant. At the front, during long waits, he draws to fight against the horrors of war. from this period came a series of drawings sent to his grandmother, where are represented his soldier friends, never in action, only in their humanity.

In 1918, he was taken prisoner. His mother dies at this moment. When the war is over, he returns to Montauban. It was not until 1921 that he returned to Paris to enter the National School of Decorative Arts. As a teacher, he will lead a dual career as a teacher and an artist.

Exhibiting only a few times, he remains very active, forcing himself to paint every day, and makes many shipments to appear in the salons. The real turning point is the year 1934, when Desnoyer participated in the Salon des Independants, alongside Robert Lotiron, Édouard Goerg and especially Marcel Gromaire. Fauvism and his treatment of color, he retains the influences of his friend Albert Marquet with whom he shared the workshop.

During the Second World War, he painted the portrait of Deborah Lipchitz, a refugee at Michel Leiris, a painting he donated to the Tel-Aviv museum, in memory of this deported ethnographer. At the end of the war, when the museum of modern art of the city of Paris reopens, a room is dedicated to Desnoyer, between Marc Chagall and Gromaire. At that time Desnoyer moved to Sète at the invitation of Jean Vilar. It is this city that he will choose quickly to spend his summers, then to live all year.

It was thanks to artists living near Perpignan (Germain Bonel for example) that Desnoyer met Jean Olibo, then mayor of Saint-Cyprien, who later convinced him to create a foundation in his city. In 1952, Desnoyer participated in the Venice Biennial with Fernand Léger and Raoul Dufy, Le Havrais became his friend. Ten years later, the Desnoyer Foundation was founded in Saint-Cyprien, which regularly hosts artists in residence and exhibitions of contemporary art.

Desnoyer donated most of his collection of modern art as well as his personal archives to the city of Saint-Cyprien.