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At the age of twenty, having graduated in advertising, J.D. was reluctant to look for a job. In the summer of 1932, he considered becoming a painter and he began to work by himself. He travelled to every comer of Comwall and often painted in the company of his cousin, Jeannine Guillou. He mainly tried to develop his faculties for observation. Lionel Floch, a former pupil of his grand-father, Théophile Deyrolle (see § Heredity) sometimes gave him a few advices when J.D. visited him at Pont Croix, as well as Jean Souverbie, when he happened to be on holiday in the district... In 1933, the first painting that he sent to the Salon des Artistes Français, i.e a rather conventional picture called " Wrack bumers " was accepted. Then he won a scholarship and a studio was put at his disposal at Rabat for two months. In November 1934, he left for North Africa where he stayed four years. |
As J.D. used to say himself, he
had a time of " wanderings " during which he went all over Morocco
and went in for painting " to begin an academic impressionism
" [J.D.]. However, the critics at the time recognized him as
having personality and his works appealed to a few art lovers.
He participated in some fifteen exhibitions, living on his work as
well as could be expected. There's no doubt that his confrontation during all these years with the Moslem civilization and the Arabic calligraphy influenced his later works. His travel in Spain with Jeannine Guillou and Nicolas de Stael, during which they worked and talked together was quite important to him. In 1938, back at Concameau, J.D. has come a long way. Painting was something else than " this sort of game " - he would say like before. In 1941, after the interruption of the " phoney war " and the demobilization, J.D. discovered Paul Sérusier's work at Chateauneuf-du-Faou. From that time, the great adventure started. |
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