Jean-Baptiste Olive

Jean-Baptiste Olive studied at École des beaux-arts de Marseille. Training under Antoine Vollon is recorded. Marius Antoine Barret is recorded as having studied under Jean-Baptiste Olive. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are marine. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Works named in the authority record are grande fresque de la gare de Lyon. Work by Jean-Baptiste Olive is recorded in the collections of São Paulo Museum of Art, Musée d'Orsay, Musée d'Art de Toulon, Musée Regards de Provence and Musée des Explorations du Monde. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Legion of Honour.

• Name — Jean-Baptiste Olive • Birth Name — Jean Baptiste Joseph Olive • Born — 31 July 1848 • Birthplace — Marseille • Died — 1936 • Place of death — Marseille • Education — École des beaux-arts de Marseille • Notable Works — Paris-Gare de Lyon train station, golden room of Le Train Bleu (restaurant) • Known for — Painter

Olive, the son of a wine merchant, was born in Marseille's Saint-Martin neighbourhood. Étienne Cornellier, a decorator, encouraged him to register at École des beaux-arts de Marseille where he studied under the guidance of Joanny Rave. There he received several awards including, in 1871, the live model class's first prize. While training as a decorator, he painted many scenes of Marseille, its Vieux-Port, its islands, and its seashore. In 1874 he travelled to Italy, mainly to Genoa and Venice. He occasionally participated in some of Provence's exhibitions at the time. In 1882 he relocated to Paris. He contributed to the decoration of Cirque d’Hiver, Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and Exposition universelle de 1889 (he was awarded a silver medal for the latter). From 1874 onward he exhibited repeatedly at Salon de Paris and was awarded several prizes there. In 1881 he became a member of Société des Artistes Français. In 1900 he won an order by the company Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée for two paintings created as decoration for the Golden Room at Le Train Bleu (restaurant) designed by architect Marius Toudoire in the Paris-Gare de Lyon train station (both paintings can still be seen there). In 1930, aged 82, Olive was awarded the Léon Bonnat prize. In addition to Étienne Cornellier, his friends were painters Gustave Marius Jullien (1825–1881), Antoine Vollon, Robert Mols, Raymond Allègre and Théophile Décanis. He was supported by several patrons, among them General Malesherbes and Marie-Louis Gassier, the owner of company Berger, a producer of pastis. In 1948, twelve years after his death, Marseille's Musée Cantini dedicated an exhibition to his centenary, displaying eighty-two of his paintings.

Although relatively little-known outside France, Olive is one of Provence's most iconic painters and an emblematic figure of the French marine art movement. Olive's technical mastery earned him prestigious public commissions, most notably the decoration of the 'Le Train Bleu' restarurant at Gare de Lyon in Paris.His unique technique, often employing a palette knife to create a thick impasto, allowed him to capture the raw, mineral texture of the provence coastline with a physical presence that set him apart from his contemporaries. His favourite themes are the sea, seashores and ports. His views of le Vieux-Port, in which the rendering of light compares to that of Félix Ziem's paintings, are especially well-known, together with his calanques (a local term for cliff-edged inlets along the coast between Marseille and La Ciotat). His views of le Vieux-Port depict it as seen from offshore, not from the ground. His still lifes, the early ones frugal, the later ones more opulent and varied, generally focus on Provence fruits and ornamental tableware. "The light's 'timing', its penetration on the firm ground, its diffusion and fugitive nature are his artwork's constitutive elements."

• Illustration — La Réserve à Marseille, Cannes:fr:Musée de la Castre. • Illustration — Nature morte aux fruits (1872):fr:musée des beaux-arts de Béziers. • Illustration — Marine aux rochers, São Paulo Museum of Art. • Illustration — Vue du port de Marseille, private collection. • Illustration — The city of Marseille on Paris–Marseille railway, golden room of restaurant Le Train Bleu in Paris-Gare de Lyon train station. • Illustration — Nature morte à la grenade, à l'orange, aux cerises et aux figues, private collection. • Illustration — Calanque d'En-Vau, private collection.

• 1882: Plage du Prado par un temps de mistral, mention honourable • 1885: 3rd class medal • 1893: Le soir, rade de Villefranche • 1913: Le Matin, Côte d'Azur • 1914: Rochers, Côte d'Azur, La Mer, Provence • Paris, Exposition universelle de 1889 (silver medal) • 1948, Marseille's Musée Cantini, Jean-Baptiste Olive centenary exhibition, 82 works displayed • 2008, Geneva, Switzerland - Marc Stammegna gallery invited by Bartha and Senarclens gallery from June 6 to July 31, 2008, « Painters of Provence », a collective exhibition featuring 22 painters including Jean-Baptiste Olive, Frédéric Montenard, Louis Valtat and Félix Ziem • September 26, 2008, to January 25, 2009, Palais des Arts (Marseille), « Jean-Baptiste Olive - Prisme de lumière », organized by Regards de Provence foundation