Paul-Marie Lenoir 

Biography of Paul-Marie Lenoir  ( 1843-1881 )

A pupil of J.L Gérôme and Jalabert at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Paul-Marie Lenoir was a painter turned towards the Orient, whose exotic paintings were served by a technique and use of color worthy of his illustrious master.

Among his many trips to Egypt, the one he made in 1868 at just 25 years of age seems to have had a profoundly seminal effect. He was the youngest member of a group assembled by Jean-Léon Gérôme between January and April 1868, including Edmond About, Albert Goupil, Jean-Richard Goubie, Ernest Journault and Willem de Famars Testas. Their four-month journey took them to Egypt, Palestine and Turkey. The abundant iconographic harvest gleaned during this stay would be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Lenoir's later paintings.

This tour led to the publication of a "travel album of artists on expedition to the Levant", in which the group's two painters, Goubie and Lenoir, took part.
Still nourished by this voyage of initiation, Lenoir published "Le Fayoum, Le Sinaï et Pétra" in 1872, a souvenir of his expedition to Middle Egypt under the direction of his master Gérôme, in which he recounts the entire journey in detail.

Lenoir exhibited regularly at the Salon between 1870 and 1880. His most notable works were "Le bac japonais" in 1872 and the following year "Le roi de Cambyse au siège de Péluse". In 1876, he presented "Farouk, le dompteur d'Agra", described by Théodore Véron in "De l'art et des artistes de mon temps" as follows: "Farouk, le dompteur d'Agra is a curious painting, endearing with a pleasant drama. This Farouk makes jaguars and tigers jump on the springboard, all the felines spotted with gold and black, with green, half-veiled eyes. This trainer makes them jump in front of a select crowd of Moorish, sultana or odalisque women, enchanting in a blue and green interior, very-curious and very-minutious in detail and perspective.
M. Lenoir has a fine present and a rich future".
Another critic notes "He is an unusual painter. His touch is lively, witty and original. His delightful painting, one of the Salon's best for finesse and wit, stops you in your tracks to admire it, and applaud this whimsical and original artist."

With the support of the critics and an imagination nourished by his travels and the photographic documents produced by his contemporaries, there's no doubt that Paul Lenoir would have been a huge success if he hadn't died prematurely during a final trip to Cairo in 1881.