How the top-drawer French painter Jean Despujols and his collection of paintings of the beautiful women of Indochina (he painted still lives, landscapes, and monks, too, but the young women stand out) arrived in Shreveport after WWII is one of the many mysteries that surround him.
Despujols made his mark in the world of history and art when he spent almost 2 years photographing, sketching, and painting the people of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. He began his foray across French-controlled Indochina in 1936. “He avoided the modern, Westernized cities of the region,” says Dana Kress, Centenary prof of French and Despujols scholar.
That Despujols was a machine gunner in the French army during WWI has been a little-known item in his unconventional bio. He served in the trenches for 4 years, says Kress, and documented some of the most devastating battles of the war: Verdun and the Belgian campaign among them. “Because of the miserable conditions in the trenches and a critical lack of paper, Despujols drew many of his war scenes on the backs of letters and scraps of paper,” says Kress in Knowla.org
“Sketches From the Trenches,” an exhibit based on Despujols’ WWI work, is currently on display at Meadows. Notes Molly McCombs, it is an “incredibly moving exhibit — and beautiful too.
“Visions of Hell: The World War I Sketchbook and Journal of Jean Despujols” is a presentation by Dr. Kress that will be given at the museum on Monday, November 30 at 6:30 p.m. “The audience for the first WWI lecture by Kress filled the room,” says Meadows director Lisa Nicoletti. Dr. Kress was the first scholar to extensively research Despujols’ work, and is currently working on a book about these World War I sketches.