Django's paintings

Teddy Dupont · August 2009

Here is one I particularly like of him apparently painting wearing a smart suit!!!

Jack · August 2009

Do I smell a CD of music inspired by Django's paintings? Or maybe a book w/CD? Why the sudden flurry of interest?

best,
Jack.

scot · August 2009

In Billardi/Antoinetto's biography of Django there is a long chapter on his painting - how he came to do it and all of that. It's pretty interesting and the French isn't that difficult. At least one of Django's paintings is in the USA - I think it's the one labeled painting 9 here. It was bought by a guy I know from Jean Sablon's estate. The amazing thing about it is that it's so tiny, about the size of a 5x7 note card, and it's in a big ornate frame. Joseph Reinhardt also painted, spooky little landscapes. I have copies of a few of them around here somewhere but cannot find them anymore. Rhythm guitarist Roger Chaput was a very talented painter and cartoonist and after leaving the music world in 1946 made his living with brushes. I have attached a couple of his paintings, which believe it or not, these copies were sold in Good Housekeeping magazine in the 1960s.

Jazzaferri · August 2009

Fascinating ... thanks for sharing this info

Teddy Dupont · August 2009

scot wrote:

- I think it's the one labeled painting 9 here. It was bought by a guy I know from Jean Sablon's estate. The amazing thing about it is that it's so tiny, about the size of a 5x7 note card, and it's in a big ornate frame.

It looks a lot bigger than that here:-

Here's a couple more from Chaput:-

Paris Street Scene, 1960

Untitled, 1961

scot · August 2009

Typical old guy recollection... It's a few years since I saw that painting - that's my best excuse. I guess I remember that painting as being so small because so many of Django's paintings were oversized. It's still in that same frame, I think.

In the documentary film "Nuages" there is a sequence of Babik playing synth guitar at home, and there are six of those paintings on the wall in his studio, 4 nudes and a pair of landscapes. You have to wonder what happened to them when he died - who has them today?