His life

THE ORIGINS, THE FORMATION I 1842-1868

Jean-Baptiste Auguste Durst was born on July 7, 1842, in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He is the second of three siblings of Jean-Baptiste Romain Durst, from Colmar and Madeleine Bourgeaud, from Aix-en-Provence. His older brother, Marius, a sculptor by trade and trained by François Rude, was born on April 9, 1832 and his sister Hélène was born a few years later. The Durst family lives comfortably. His parents, owners of a restaurant Les Jardins de Tilsitt, rue de Tilsitt, in Paris, made their fortune and quickly invested in the real estate assets in Paris and the Paris region. At the death of his last ones, Auguste Durst inherited important land incomes that allowed him to devote himself serenely to painting. The limited information on his childhood does not allow us to know where he is being trained. Maybe he took drawing and painting classes at a municipal drawing school? Did his parents object? Certainly not. His father, an enlightened amateur musician, had a background as a stonemason and was very good at drawing.

In 1862, he did his military service in the Territorial Army in the 17th Infantry Corps of the 1st Battalion in Bernay (Eure).

After his military service, Auguste Durst, a self-taught man, attended Master Ernest Hébert's workshop at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris around 1866, but was not a student enrolled at the School. He learned how to draw and compose portraits.

In any case, in 1868, at the age of 26, he was allowed to exhibit for the first time at the Salon des Artistes Français with two paintings: Fille de cuisine and Fleurs. From that year until 1889, he remained loyal to this show.

THE WORKS OF YOUTH I 1868-1882

During these 15 years, Auguste Durst perfected his profession as a painter. He regularly exhibits at the Salon des Artistes français. However, his career ended abruptly when the War of 1870 broke out. For circumstances that were still unclear, he voluntarily exiled himself for two years to a cousin in London. Upon his return to France in 1872, he moved back to the family home on rue de Tilsitt and began exhibiting again at the Salon des Artistes Français. From that time on, Durst devoted himself to painting and held several exhibitions in Paris and other French cities. In 1874, he presented two paintings at the Salon des artistes français, a still life, Fleurs, and Crue de Seine, a theme he would repeat many times during his career.

It was only in 1881 that he made a name for himself at the annual Salon with a Visit to the Farm, in which he endeavoured to represent the daily life of farmers and farm animals. This work, only known by reproduction, is still in a medium format. The ones that followed were very large formats, such as the Poules, he sent to the 1882 Salon, a monumental canvas measuring 2 by 4 metres.

It was during this period that he acquired a private mansion, located at 40 avenue de la Défense in Puteaux, in which he set up his workshop.

THE FIRST SUCCESSES AND FIRST PURCHASES I 1883-1901

From 1883 to 1901, Durst's career took a new turn. He received many awards and the salons in which he participated began to buy his paintings. Concerned about perfecting his technique, he joined Léon Bonnat's workshop in Paris at the same time. It was his former teacher René Hébert, then close to Léon Bonnat since their common stay in Rome, who recommended him. In a letter from Bonnat dated 1884 to his artist friend Achille Zo, then curator of the Bayonne Municipal Museum, the master talks about a young artist, Auguste Durst, in whom he has every hope. But the turning point in his career was 1884. He sent the FAS a life-size composition called La Sieste, a work that we only know from reproductions. This one is a great success. The jury of the Show awarded it the mention H.C (Out of competition). During this exhibition, Bonnat bought another piece of work, Paysages aux poules. This painting is intended for the collection of the Bayonne Municipal Museum that Bonnat and Achille Zo are beginning to build.

This first success gave the artist a crazy energy and between 1885 and 1888, he entered an intense period of artistic activity. He continued his artistic ascent, sending in 1885, several paintings of natural sizes: Le Réveil and Matinée de Printemps which was finally purchased by the city of Pau. In Paris, his work Les Filles du fermier, a large naturalistic canvas, still caused a sensation. The following year, the Lyon Fine Arts Society invited him to present it at its annual exhibition.

In 1889, for his last participation in the Salon des Artistes Français, he presented two paintings, one of which, Le Val de Forge (Gironde), earned him a silver medal. The other, L'Avenue de la Défense in Puteaux, is currently in the Gaudin Museum in Puteaux. After having solicited him several times, the State bought Dindons, soleil couchant, from him in 1898 and was deposited in 1899 at the French Embassy in London. In 1900, he participated in the Universal Exposition where he showed a very beautiful peasant girl in the sun. It was also at this time that he made friends with the Czech painter Kupka, who had just moved into the house next door to his own. The two painters share a love of nature and more particularly of impressionist landscapes.

The acknowledgement I 1902-1910

A friend of Bonnat since his time at the workshop on rue Bassano, Durst met the President of the Republic, Émile Loubet, who appointed him Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1902. It is a consecration for the artist that opens the doors of the commissions for the acquisition of works of art by the State. During these years, the State bought three works from him: one, in 1903, under the impetus of Clémenceau, then Minister of the Interior, entitled Les Neiges d'Automne, which was kept at the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse for a while; followed in 1905 by the work Dindons dans les herbes, which is now kept at the Musée La Piscine in Roubaix, and a third, in 1909, entitled Escoussans, Gironde, which was deposited in 1909 at the Château de Saumur Museum. In 1908, the town hall of Puteaux bought Le Phare de la Corbière (Jersey) from him, with a very different style and writing in his artistic production, so in a few years, Durst's naturalistic and rural work caused a sensation in the salon and he succeeded in integrating the French public collections on 5 occasions. During all these years, he continued to share his life between his private mansion in Puteaux and his house in St Vaast d'Equiqueville in Basse-Normandie. He made many trips and stays in the Dieppe region from which he brought back many sketches and studies recorded in artists' notebooks.

A DISCREET END OF CAREER I 1914-1919

In this period of war, like many artists, he only participates in the only two shows organized. While remaining faithful to the aesthetics and landscape theme, he endeavours to grasp the difficulties of food replenishment experienced by the Parisian population. Thus in 1915, he painted two canvases with evocative titles: Sheep parquets in the Bois de Boulogne for supply, Oct. 1915 and Ox parquets in the lawn of Bagatelle for supply, Oct. 1915. The first one is kept by the artist's family, the second one was purchased during the Salon by the city of Paris in 1916. Auguste Durst seems to have been very affected by this painful supply situation during the war. He himself seems to find himself in an uncomfortable financial situation during and after the war. His last participation in an exhibition was in 1924, in Bordeaux, where he presented one last landscape of his beloved Normandy, Landscape of St Vaast d'Equiqueville at the Salon de la société des Amis des Art.

He died in 1930 at his private mansion, leaving his entire studio collection to his three children.