# Raphaël Toussaint

Raphaël Toussaint (pseudonym of Jacques de la Croix; born 25 April 1937, in La Roche-sur-Yon), is a French painter residing in the Vendée department. Landscape designer, he practices “poetic reality”.
His motto as a painter is:
   "Knowing how to see, knowing how to perceive, knowing how to design"

## Biography

In 1956, while studying classical singing, Jacques de la Croix, the future Raphaël Toussaint, met the one who became his wife in 1959. As a result, he met René Robin: the father of his future wife who ran a store in La Roche-sur-Yon which later became the Robin gallery. For Raphaël Toussaint, this meeting was a determining element that influenced the course of his life.
   "The genesis of this rebirth [is] due to the meeting of another Yonnais, René Robin, director of the art gallery that bears his name"; explains journalist Bertrand Illegems.
   “Without his father-in-law, the irreplaceable René Robin, always present in his works, who trained and supported so many painters (Albert Deman, Henry Simon, Paul Dauce, Joël Dabin, Roger Ducrot ...), Raphaël Toussaint would not have become what he is today, a magician of beauty in the service of truth”, writes journalist Hervé Louboutin.
Called to do his military service, it was in 1957 that he embarked in civilian clothes on the Sidi Bel Abbès II bound for Oran (Algeria) where he disembarked on 13 July. He studied at the Nouvion military camp near Oran at the 21st RTA. On 16 November, he was assigned to the 2nd RI 3rd company, at "ferme 35" in the Aumale region south of Algiers. Seriously wounded during the night of 8–9 April, he was repatriated to France in May and permanently retired as a major war invalid.
After this injury, Jacques de la Croix could no longer continue studying the classical singing he had practised since his adolescence. His career as a singer halted, he decided to devote himself entirely to painting, helped by his father-in-law, René Robin, and he changed his name to become Raphaël Toussaint. With René Robin, he came into direct contact with the landscape and began his first period. His painting Holidays in Saint Raphaël would determine the profile of what became the definitive expression of his art. René Robin directed him towards naive art, because he felt that his vocation is there thanks to his patience and meticulousness. Until 1970, he worked under the secrecy of anonymity in order to make sure that his choice to devote himself entirely to painting was not an adventure without a future. It was in 1965 that he began his first exhibitions in different galleries and that he was selected the following year to participate in the Salon “Comparaisons” at the Grand Palais (Paris). A few years passed where he affirmed his talent and in 1971 he was appointed Member of the Salon d'Automne. “Be congratulated and thanked, your work is beneficial, it carries within it the true values of life, the quiet and firm certainty that happiness is in simplicity, and not in money which is a lure. To build a work such as yours, in our times of anguish and iron, dear Raphaël Toussaint, is to bring us closer to the angels ... ” declares Édouard Georges Mac-Avoy, the president of Salon d'Automne, in 1990.
His life as a professional and official painter then came to light. It was in 1973 that he formalized his pseudonym Raphaël Toussaint by means of a notarial deed. In a publication in 2004, the art collector and critic Henri Griffon considers him a symbol of this movement of expression of modern primitive. “He is not an imitator, nor a follower, he is Toussaint. On the walls of a gallery, the informed eye will recognize the invoice of a great master ” , thus estimates Henri Griffon.

### Paris-Grand Palais-Exposition 1982 “The Genius of the Naive”

The following year, at the Salon de la Nationale des Beaux Arts, he was appointed Associate by President François Baboulet.
He exhibited his painting, On a beautiful winter morning. This painting was stolen from the Grand Palais in Paris during the Salon de la Nationale des Beaux Arts and never found.
To pay tribute to his Mentor René Robin, whom he includes in all his paintings, Raphaël Toussaint publishes a wax seal which is affixed to the back of each of his works as a second signature.
Wanting to give a new dimension to his career, he wrote and implemented in 1990 a work of art The very rich hours of Raphaël Toussaint, prefaced by various personalities from the world of the arts including Paul Guth. The latter writes: "Raphaël Toussaint, a naive painter? ... A problem that bothers him. In France, country of labels, we stuck this one on the overcoat. And to me too. Him, in painting, me in literature for my romantic cycle of the Naive. Labels twins. Did this naive title bother you? he asks me. I answer for both of us: yes and no. Naive does not mean silly, beta, idiotic. Naive comes from the Latin word nativus, as on the day of his birth. The naive is the one who is born every day, and the world with him. It has the spirit of childhood, one of the treasures of Saint Francis of Assisi". He exhibited in numerous salons and galleries in France but also in particular in the United States (in Texas and Florida. In Paris, he exhibited at Galerie 93 du Faubourg Saint-Honoré for twenty-five years, between 1965 and 1991 (gallery closed). Locally, the Vendée department organized a major retrospective for his thirty years of painting (1964–1994). In 2001, the Sainte-Croix des Sables-d'Olonne [fr] museum, opens its doors to him for a major exhibition "Landscape or a certain regard". He regularly takes part in the Parisian Salons of which he is a member.,

## Awards

* 2000 : Médaille de la ville de Paris
* 2004 : Chevalier des Arts et Lettres
* 2010 : Prix Francis Davis Millet

## Exhibitions

| Year | Venue | Location | Description |
| 1965 | Biennale de la Loire-Atlantique | La Baule | Collective exhibition |
| 1966 | Galerie René Robin | La Roche-sur-Yon | Individual exhibition |
| 1968 | Salon Comparaisons [fr] | Paris | Collective exhibition |
| 1968-1969 | Galerie Jannel | Paris | Permanent exhibit |
| 1968-1980 | Galerie 93 et par le monde | Paris | Permanent exhibit |
| 1971 | Salon d'automne | Paris | Collective exhibition – Becomes a member of the Salon d'Automne |
| 1972-1979 | Galerie Saint Dominique | Lyon | Permanent exhibit |
| 1974 | Salle de l'Ardoise verte | Beauvoir-sur-Mer | Ten years of painting – Individual retrospective exhibition |
| 1975 | Salle municipale Levallois-Perret | Nanterre | Collective exhibition - World Fair of Naive Painting |
| 1979-1986 | Phillips gallery | Palm Beach-Dallas-Houston | Permanent exhibit |
| 1980-1981 | Galerie Simon Chaput | Les Sables-d'Olonne et Parthenay | Permanent exhibit |
| 1981 | Musée | La Roche-sur-Yon | Exhibition « Figures » |
| 1982 | Musée | La Roche-sur-Yon | Individual exhibition - « Chemins - 50 years of painting and homage to the Salon yonnais » |
| 1982 | Grand Palais | Paris | Salon of Independent Artists "The genius of the naive" |
| 1982 | Phillips gallery | Palm Beach | "Two masters of primitive school" |
| 1983 | Nationale des beaux-arts | Paris | Exhibition and becomes a member |
| 1983 | Centre Neptune | Nantes | Exhibition "Air and Space" |
| 1983-1985 | Galerie « Arts Lésigny » | Lésigny | Permanent exhibit |
| 1984 | Galerie « Arts Lésigny » | Lésigny | Christmas Salon (guest of honor) |
| 1984 | Musée des Beaux-Arts [fr] | La Rochelle | Seventh Fine Arts Fair (guest of honor) |
| 1984-1986 | Salon International d'Art naïf (S.I.A.N) | Paris | Collective exhibition (see) Grand Palais |
| 1985 | Galerie « Café de la paix » | Paris | International pictorial meetings, "A moment of peace" |
| 1986-1991 | Galerie 93 | Paris | Permanent exhibit |
| 1988 | Salle de la Martelle | Le Poiré-sur-Vie | 1st painting salon, (Raphaël Toussaint and friends) |
| 1989 | Galerie le Vieux château | Angers | Salon d'Automne - Collective exhibition |
| 1990 | Salle de la mairie | Cholet | Collective exhibition - "30 contemporary painters" |
| 1990 | Peinture murale | Le Poiré-sur-Vie | The mayor Léon Darnis commissions a 150 square metres (1,600 sq ft) mural painting to complete in the heart of the city |
| 1991-1994 | Galerie cannoise | Cannes | Individual exhibition |
| 1992 | Nolan-Rankin gallery | Houston | Collective exhibition |
| 1992 | Musée | Noirmoutier | Jacques Oudin, senator of the Vendée, commissioned a painting for the museum |
| 1992 | Trésor public | La Roche-sur-Yon | Exhibition at the General Treasury |
| 1992 | Crédit Mutuel | La Roche-sur-Yon | Exhibition on lithography |
| 1993-1994 | Galerie Colette Dubois | Paris | Collective exhibition |
| 1993 | Mairie du 9eme arr. | Paris | Third Biennial “Arts without time-Dreamlands” guest of honor |
| 1994 | Hôtel du dépt | La Roche-sur-Yon | "30 years of painting across the Vendée" Individual exhibition |
| 1997-1998 | Galerie du Mas d'Artigny | Saint-Paul-de-Vence | Individual exhibition |
| 1999 | Carrousel du Louvre | Paris | Exhibition of his painting "Hommage au Vendée Globe" at the Fine Arts salon |
| 1999 | Salon d'automne | Paris | Collective exhibition - Obtains the “Arts-Sciences-Lettres” vermeil medal. |
| 1999-2000 | Galerie du Dauphin | Honfleur-Megève-Courchevel | Collective exhibition |
| 2000 | Salon Comparaisons [fr] | Paris | Collective exhibition |
| 2000 | Salon d'automne | Paris | Collective exhibition - Receives the silver cross of "French Merit and Dedication" |
| 2000 | Salon d'automne | Paris | Collective exhibition - Receives the medal of the city of Paris. |
| 2001 | Musée de l'Abbaye Saint-Croix | Les Sables-d'Olonne | Individual exhibition 31 March – 17 June "Landscapes, a certain look" |
| 2001 | Centre culturel | Challans | Arts week-end on the theme: lithography - guest of honour |
| 2001 | Musée de la poste | Paris | Exhibition: The most beautiful illustrated envelopes from 1750 to the present day |
| 2001 | Carrousel du Louvre | Paris | Exhibition Salon de la Nationale des Beaux Arts |
| 2004 | Galerie d'Art Élysée | Paris | Collective exhibition |
| 2005 | Théâtre Millandry | Luçon | Individual exhibition – Discover lithography |
| 2006-2007 | Galerie Villa Bellartéa | Biarritz – Anglet | Individual exhibition |
| 2006 | Salon Comparaisons [fr] Grand Palais | Paris | Collective exhibition |
| 2007 | Galerie | Brie-Comte-Robert | “Christmas colours” exhibition - Guest of honour |
| 2008 | Conseil général de la Vendée [fr] | La Roche-sur-Yon | Collective exhibition "The Vendeans and the sea, human adventures" |
| 2009 | Galerie du Sénéchal | Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne | Gallery opening - Guest of honour |
| 2010 | Carrousel du Louvre | Paris | Collective exhibition in the Salon des Beaux Arts from December 16 to 19 under the high patronage of the President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy. Raphaël Toussaint is awarded the Germain David-Nillet prize for his painting Hiver sur un domaine Vendéen. |
| 2010 | Lexus Gallery | La Roche-sur-Yon | Lexus Gallery presents in December, the exhibition of Raphaël Toussaint "Féerie de Noël" with his painting Vouvant - La Tour Mélusine - La valse des patineurs (The skaters' waltz). |
| 2010 | Librairie Siloë [fr] | La Roche-sur-Yon | Presentation during the month of May of the painting by Raphaël Toussaint, Beatification of Pope John Paul II (Lourdes. La Grotte de Massabielle), H.S.B. 27 centimetres (11 in) x 35 centimetres (14 in) |
| 2015 | Hôtel du département | La Roche-sur-Yon | Exhibition at the Departmental Council of the Vendée - Golden Jubilee: 50 Years of Painting - Hôtel du Département from 4 May to 3 July 2015 – La Roche-sur-Yon |

## Written works

* Chemins-50 ans de peinture en Vendée (in French) (Imprimerie graphique de l'Ouest ed.). Le Poiré-sur-Vie: Dominique Giles. 1982. pp. 12, 77. Hommage to the Salon Yonnais - Municipal museum of La Roche-sur-Yon
* Raphaël Toussaint (August 1990). Les très riches heures de Raphaël Toussaint. Menthon-Saint-Bernard: éditions Les Sillons du Temps. ISBN 2-907077-06-6. Book of art.
* Raphaël Toussaint (October 1994). 30 ans de peinture. éditions Cénomane. On the occasion of a retrospective exhibition at the Conseil général de la Vendée
* Raphaël Toussaint (March 2001). Catalogue de l'exposition au Musée Sainte Croix les Sables d'Olonne.
* Raphaël Toussaint (2001). Paysages ou un certain regard : Raphaël Toussaint (in French). Les Sables-d'Olonne: éditions Offset Cinq. ISBN 2-908752-10-7. Paysages ou un certain regard.
* Raphaël Toussaint (2001). Quatre saisons en Vendée (in French). éditions Offset cinq. ISBN 2-908752-08-5. Illustrated agenda
* Raphaël Toussaint (November 2002). Châteaux et Hauts Lieux de Vendée. éditions Offset Cinq. ISBN 2-908752-33-6.
* Raphaël Toussaint; Antoine Richard (October 2000). Musique sur douze toiles de Raphaël Toussaint (in French). éditions Souffle et poésie. Poems