Charles Walch – The Blue Window, 1939 (oil on canvas 65cm x 59cm)
French artist, painter, engraver and sculptor, Charles Walch was born on 4th August 1896 in Thann (Alsace) and died on 12 December 1948 in Paris. Walch suffered from birth with an atrophied right arm and a right leg which was shorter than the left and as a consequence, learned to paint with his left hand. Despite his seeming disability, he graduated from college and studied handcraft followed by studies at the Industrial Society of Mulhouse.
- In 1923 he exhibited at the Salon des Independents and became Professor of Drawing. From 1929, he settled in Paris where he stayed for the rest of his life.
- His work was noticed in 1934 by critic George Besson, who then became his friend and supporter. By 1937, Walch started receiving rewards.
- In 1941, he participated in the exhibition of “20 Young Painters of the French Tradition” the first painting exhibition of avant-garde artists to be shown during the French Occupation.
Charles Walch was appointed Knight of the Legion of Honour. He died suddenly from a subarachnoid hemorrhage on December 12, 1948, while painting in his Paris workshop.
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