IT ALL STARTED WHEN....

Auguste Durst became a painter. A renowned artist, appreciated by many enthusiasts collectors, benefiting from numerous government purchases, Auguste Durst is today very little known to the general public. He was one of those artists of the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century who were victims of the evolution of tastes and fashions in French society.

To dedicate this space to him today makes it possible to get him out of these long years of silence and oblivion. This site is part of a research work to create the catalogue raisonné of his work and already allows to (re)discover his work which wanted to combine realism and idealism in painting.

From 1868, the date of his first exhibition until 1919, the date of his last known participation in an exhibition, Durst has never stopped painting and exhibiting in many exhibitions throughout France and abroad.

A member of the Société des Artistes Français until 1890, then the Société nationales des Beaux-Arts, he obtained several awards and distinctions during his career: a 2nd class medal at the SAF, with the HC mention in 1884, another in bronze at the 1889 Universal Exhibition and another in silver in 1900. As for notoriety, the Legion of Honour was awarded to him in 1902 by the President of the French Republic.

His work describes a fertile, fresh and colourful universe, built around Norman landscapes, mostly (but not exclusively) inhabited by small red-crowned animals - turkeys, hens, roosters of course but also geese, ducks and ducks, and herds of cows or calves. There are many scenes of daily life on or around the farms. The artist has also focused much attention on the representation of women, whether bourgeois or peasant, who are closer in size to the women of Rubens or Courbet than those of Ingres, at work or idle, or dressed or undressed. Thus most of the artist's paintings are set in the region of Saint Vaast, on the banks of the Béthune in Normandy in the vicinity of the painter's house in Saint-Vaast d'Équiqueville near Dieppe, as well as in Paris and the banks of the Seine.

His works are now held in numerous public and private collections in France and abroad, including Pau, Paris, Saumur, Roubaix, Toulouse, Tours, Saint-Louis (U.S.A), Amsterdam, Bonn and London.

Why this website?

Auguste Durst's descendants wanted, through this site, to make the life and work of their ancestor better known and to inform art lovers of the latest news and events dedicated to the artist.

The purpose of this site is to ensure the respect and enhancement of the artist's work. He assists the family, holder of the moral right, in the exercise of this right, in particular for authentications and for forgeries. The work of Auguste Durst is important. Today, barely 20% of its production is known and localized. We are therefore still far from knowing all the riches of this work. We hope, however, that by consulting this site you will become better acquainted with it.

Those responsible for Auguste Durst's work can be contacted by email: [email protected]