Robert Hainard
Born in 1906.
Died in 1999.
Robert Hainard (11 September 1906, Geneva – 26 December 1999, Gland) is presented as a naturalist artist whose practice extended across painting, sculpture, printmaking and writing. His documented distinctiveness lies in a practice of observational drawing: “drawing what one sees rather than what one knows” and depicting animals without disturbing them.
Born into an artistic milieu—his parents, Philippe Hainard and Eugénie Hainard-Béchard, are described as painters—he left primary school at the age of twelve and initially received artistic instruction from his father. He subsequently attended the Arts industriels and the École des beaux-arts de Genève (1921–1926), where he studied sculpture and also took up printmaking.
His first animal prints were exhibited in 1929 at the Salon genevois de l’Œuvre. In 1929, he married Germaine Roten; the couple exhibited together, with Germaine presenting paintings and Robert prints, notably at the Centre de rencontres de Cartigny.
Hainard’s career is characterised by the diversity of professional roles attributed to him: painter, sculptor, printmaker, natural history illustrator, writer, philosopher and naturalist.
Alongside his graphic work, he published essays: Et la nature ? (1943) and Nature et mécanisme (1946) are among his philosophical texts. His literary output extended over several decades and notably includes Croquis de terrain (1975) and Le monde plein (1991).
Toponymic tributes have been bestowed in his name: a promenade in Yverdon, a pond in Geneva and a primary school in Bernex bear his name. Throughout his career, the method attributed to him—close observation and respect for the living subject—informs both his prints and his natural history writings.
