Charles Barraud
Born in 1897.
Died in 1997.
The eldest of the four Barraud brothers, he moved away from the outlined, graphic style shared by his brothers to pursue Post-Impressionist explorations that, according to the notice, are close to the work of Pierre Bonnard.
His artistic career began with an apprenticeship as an engraver (1910–1914), supplemented by evening classes at the art school in La Chaux‑de‑Fonds. From 1925 to 1934, he was a member of the artists’ group la Syrinx, a participation mentioned in the exhibition file.
Changes of residence took him to Areuse in 1940, then to Cortaillod in 1946; the file notes a divorce in 1950, a second marriage in 1951 to Paulette Kühni, and the purchase, that same year, of a house in Blauzac.
In terms of exhibitions, he took part in the exhibition of the four brothers in Paris in 1951—repeated in 1961 at the Musée des beaux‑arts de La Chaux‑de‑Fonds—and was the subject of a retrospective at the same museum in 1958. In its critical register, the exhibition notice describes him as “The poet of the family.” His later travels included a journey to Algeria in 1973 and a stay in Tunisia in 1989; his final paintings date from 1995.
The works are described in the notices as highly luminous, imbued with an atmosphere that the source characterises as “vaporous.”
