1841 -1901 · Naturalist landscape and evening poetry

Cazin transforms familiar roads, shores and villages into silent landscapes, shaped by twilight and a muffled material.

Born in Samer in 1841, Jean-Charles Cazin studied with Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose pedagogy developed observation and visual memory. Painter, engraver and ceramist, he directed the School of Fine Arts in Tours for a time then stayed in England between 1874 and 1876. On his return, he settled in Boulonnais and found on the roads, dunes, quays and villages of the North the subjects of his most personal language. His landscapes avoid the spectacular: an isolated house, a path, a silhouette or a low sky are enough to create a story. Evening light unifies shapes, while muted tones and sensitive paste create an atmosphere of contemplation. Exhibiting regularly at the National Society of Fine Arts in the 1890s, Cazin combines naturalism and poetic memory, without breaking with his experience of decorative arts. The "Jean-Charles Cazin" selection notably compares Route Nationale to Samer. His reading favors drawing.

An ordinary road becomes for Cazin a silent theater where heaven, earth and light tell the story of the passing hour.