Guy de Montlaur

Guy Joseph Marie de Villardi comte de Montlaur (9 September 1918, Biarritz — 10 August 1977, Garches) was a French painter from the Languedoc family of Montlaur.

Guy de Montlaur was born on 9 September 1918 in Biarritz, from one of the oldest families in the Languedoc, mentioned as early as the 11th century.

Between 1936 and 1938 while studying literature and philosophy at the Sorbonne he was a regular at Emmanuel Fougerat's studio and then at the Academie Julian.

He worked with Jean Souverbie and accompanied him to the World's Fair of 1937 at the Palais de Chaillot.

In 1937, he met a young American woman also studying art, Adelaide Oates, he married her six years later.

In 1938, just after the Munich Agreement he left for his military service.

Guy de Montlaur was at the front at the onset of the war on 3 September 1939.

In June 1940, Montlaur was fighting the invasion in a losing battle and ended in Limoges two days after the armistice was conceded by Pétain to Hitler.

In 1942, after crossing Franco's Spain, he arrived in Lisbon, where for three months he worked for MI6.

He joined the Free French in London in October 1942.

He was assimilated at his request into the 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos of the Forces Navales Françaises Libres.

"I saw him when he arrived early 1943. I offered him the chance to join the Commandos which were the modern equivalent of the cavalry, an arm used for reconnaissance and lightly armed bold raids. From that time onward, we were always together. First as group leaders, then as section leaders, training together with Commandant Kieffer, Lofi, Hattu, Chausse, Bégot, and Wallerand, we built up together an instrument of attack, which had the honour of being chosen as first to land, here, on our native soil of France. When all the officers of my company were wounded, it was Guy de Montlaur who took over in command. Later, at Flushing and Walcheren, wounded as he was near me, he refused to be evacuated. His courage was close to insolence; he was not just fighting but humiliating the enemy: by the age of 25 he had received seven citations for valour in battle ("Croix de Guerre") and the French Légion d’Honneur.

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He was a resistance fighter in WW2, he landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 with the 1er BFMC troops (aka "Kieffer Commandos"), he participated in the Battle of Normandy and landed again in Holland on 1 November 1944.

Montlaur's paintings were influenced by the great classical works such as those by Paolo Uccello, Ingres, Delacroix and later Kandinsky.

On 6 June 1944 he landed in Normandy at Ouistreham with the 177 French of Commando Kieffer integrated into the 4th Commando of the 1st Special Service Brigade of Brigadier General Lord Lovat.

On 1 November 1944, he took part in the allied landings of Flushing on the Isle of Walcheren in Holland (Operation Infatuate ) where he was wounded when his barge was hit by a German shell.

The operation was led against an enemy ten times greater in numbers than the Allies, and was a total success.

It opened the Scheldt river to the allied troops and allowed them access to the port of Antwerp and northern Germany, opening the road to Berlin and leading to the end of the war.

Montlaur returned to France in 1948 and moved to Nice until 1953.

He spent his time between Nice and Paris where he found his friends, members of the dynamic group Réalités Nouvelles (Atlan, Poliakoff, Schneider, Chapoval, and Soulages).

One can define four styles characterising the evolution of Montlaur's work: cubism immediately post-war, geometric abstraction from 1949, abstract expressionism from 1955 and finally lyrical abstraction around 1960, once he had achieved the summit of his art and technique.

His work was often mystical, sometimes religious, and was marked by the terrible memories of his wartime experiences.

Montlaur's first solo exhibition was in March 1949 at the Galerie Lucienne-Léonce Rosenberg.

The Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris bought one of his works at this exhibition.

His unit became part of the Corps Francs from 17 October, he was under the command of Capitaine de Castries, future commander at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

Montlaur is mentioned by Cornelius Ryan in his book The Longest Day and his role was played by Georges Rivière in the 1962 film adaptation.

After the war, Montlaur and his wife Adelaide left for the United States, he studied at the Art Students League of New York and painted feverishly.

After two years in the US, he returned to France where he would live until his death.

Montlaur's paintings faithfully followed the cubists rules of the group "Golden Section" (Gleizes, Metzinger, Gris, Léger, and Duchamp).

He was inspired by the principles laid out by Gino Severini (a friend of his) in his book Du Cubisme au Classicisme, where colours are determined in an almost mathematical formula.

Montlaur was prolific during this period, he demonstrated rigour, as well as accuracy and precision of his eye and hand.

Guy Vourc'h was the troop commander at the D-Day landings and made the following comment in his eulogy for Guy de Montlaur on 13 August 1977 at the cemetery of Ranville (Calvados):

The Chateau de Montlaur (11th Century) is situated 20 km north east of Montpellier.

Guy de Montlaur also had Italian heritage from his Villardi ancestors who were allies of the Visconti and Baroncelli.

They settled in Provence at the end of the 13th Century.

He had Brazilian ancestors on his mother's side who came from São Paulo and Salvador da Bahia.

His father died when he was a young boy from lingering effects of being gassed in World War I, at which point Montlaur moved to Paris.

He started to paint at a young age.

He was with the 3rd Regiment of the Hussards based at Sarreguemines, regrouped in the 15th Groupe de Reconnaissance de Corps d'Armée and took part from the start of the war in numerous raids in Saarland, Germany (Kleinblittersdorff, Walsheim, Herbitzheim and German Bliesbruck).