Henri Malançon

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Henri Malançon (December 20, 1876 – December 20, 1960) was a French painter born in Paris. He died in Voutenay-sur-Cure, Yonne, France. Coming from a middle‑class family, his father was a banker and he was raised by his stepmother, Marie‑Comélie Falcon, a well‑known lyric tragedian. He studied classics at Louis-le-Grand.

At 23 he married Alice Josse (May 24, 1899). Their daughter Germaine later married Gaston Bergery, a government official connected to the Left‑Wing Coalition, and journalist Georges Boris, who would play a part in the Resistance. Malançon and Alice divorced on May 24, 1924. A year later he married painter Antoinette Destrem (1881–1942). Antoinette died during World War II.

In 1904, after his military service, he joined the Julian Academy to study painting and stayed two years. He befriended many artists, including Braque, Lhote and Deshayes. On Braque’s advice, he studied from 1905 to 1914 at the Humbert Academy. After World War I, he began his painting career, drawing inspiration from landscapes in Brittany and Normandy.

In 1930 he held a solo show of 25 paintings at Galerie Eugène Druet, which earned praise from critic Louis Vauxcelles for his personal, harmonious style. Malançon often left Paris to paint in places like Céret, Saint-Tropez, Camac, Pont-l’Abbé, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Gargilesse in Creuse.

In 1934 the Malançons discovered Vézelay, a hill that became a favorite location. In 1940 they bought a house in Voutenay-sur-Cure near Vézelay, where they lived during the Nazi occupation. Antoinette died in February 1942, and Malançon slowed his work during the 1940s. He joined the French Resistance with their governess, Lucienne Sauterau (often written as Sautereau).

From December 1944 to the Liberation of France, they sheltered an officer from the British Royal Air Force. Henri Malançon died on December 20, 1960.