JEAN CARRAU (FRENCH D.1996)

JEAN CARRAU (FRENCH D.1996)
Célébration du 14th Juillet 1896 dans une campagne de France, Avec un Ballon!
signed Jean Carrau and titled, (upper left, lower center)
oil on tin
30 x 38 cm

Jean Carrau was born in 1920, son of a wealthy barrister who rapidly squandered the family fortune. His mother died when he was 12, Jean and his younger brother Michel were brought up mainly by the Spanish maid in a large house in Southern France, when he was not at school. As a child Jean soon developed an aptitude for drawing and painting. Schooling was given by Jesuit priests in a monastery near Lourdes. The consequence of acquiring a great education meant that he became fluent in Latin. He believed this foundation helped him in learning other languages such as Spanish, English, as well as some Italian, German, and Russian.

Having obtained his baccalaureate, Jean embarked on life as an art student in Paris and showed talent by winning various competitions. Still a student when war broke out, he decided to leave Paris in 1940 when Germany invaded and fled south towards the Pyrenees and Spain.

Failing to cross the frontier, Jean finally managed to board a Belgian coal ship in Bordeaux. He was placed by the ship’s crew in the bowels of the ship, where his face was blacked up with coal to infer he was working amongst them.

To Jean’s surprise, the boat headed not for the original destination of Spain, but for England.