Jacques Bouyssou (1926-1997) French, Oil on Canvas. Depicts a street scene in Montmartre. Signed bottom left. Inscribed on back: "Paris Rue Dei Norvins" and an anchor symbol. 

Overall: 29 3/4 X 37 1/4 in. 

Sight: 28 1/4 X 35 3/4 in. 

#2719 . 

Jacques Bouyssou was born in 1926 in La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur, a coastal commune in the Calvados region of France. He was influenced early on by seeing art in the gallery that his father owned in Paris, often accompanying him on trips into the city to arrange new works on the walls with him. His exposure to leading Expressionists of the time had a profound impact on him later in life. At first he studied architecture at the Beaux Arts de Troyes, drawing with the sculptor Janin. When he moved to Paris full time to continue his studies at the Academie de la Grande Chaumière, he took additional courses at the studio of D’Othon Friez that directly led to his desire to paint. He routinely returned to Normandy to paint beach and port scenes, drawing comparisons to Marquet and Utrillo. In 1950 he married and held his first one man show in Paris. By 1960 he held his first one man exhibition in London, and by the late 60s he was regularly exhibiting there and in New York. In 1987 he was named the official maritime painter for the French Navy, and when he passed away in 1997 in Maisons-Laffitte, France there were permanent displays of his work in museums around the world, acknowledging him as one of the key modern Expressionist painters of his time.