André Planson

André Planson went to Paris after his studies at the Académie Ranson and was inspired by the Old Masters in the Louvre and by trips within France. In 1933 he was awarded the Prix Blumenthal, which brought interest in his work by a growing number of people. He received some orders by the government for the Lycée Janson de Sailly (1934), for the Théâtre du Palais de Chaillot (1937), for the Institute Agronomique de France and for the Enghien grammar school.

He had an intense affinity for music and his interest in all Parisian spectacles was the reason he could often be found in the loges of the Opéra Comique, or behind the stage of a vaudeville show in order to sketch the ballet troupe in full action, or the dancers with their costumes, or the actors while powdering.

He returned from a trip to Algier and Oran in 1955 with numerous watercolor paintings highlighting the luminosity of the streets in these cities and the magnificence of the North African vegetation.

After serving as a professor at the Académie Julian for 15 years, he was elected a member of the Institute de France in 1960. He deftly and untiringly painted his home surroundings, the landscapes, the windings of river Marne, the different people in the area, the life and inhabitants in the village, all in brilliant color.

One of Planson’s lithographs is called Arena, showing a football stadium. This could well be his submitted work Football. There are also graphics, however, related to Rugby. Athletes could be equivalent to La stade, showing athletes exercising different disciplines in a stadium. This is an oil painting on panel with a format of only 33 x 41 cm created in 1924.