Jávea was the inspiration of the watercolorist, painter and engraver André Lambert (Stuttgart 1884-Paris 1967), so much that he left the intellectual avant-garde Paris where he lived to settle in Jávea. His love for this land is reflected in the many landscapes that are part of his work.
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Biography
André Lambert began studying architecture and later enrolled in Fine Arts, studies that ended around 1908. He worked in Germany as a painter and illustrator for publishers and magazines. And in 1908 he moved to Paris, where job opportunities came as an illustrator of books. He made several trips to Spain, and in one of them, he took advantage of his visit to Valencia to get to Jávea and meet her.
Years later, in 1920, already married to Raquel Costrinski, and born his sons André and Milagro, Lambert settled in Jávea. He bought ten hectares of land by the sea in the Portitxol area. He baptized this estate with the name of Janus, like the magazine that he himself had founded in Paris. Since Lambert's arrival, Cala Blanca began to be known as the "French cove": The funny thing is that Lambert was a Swiss national, and actually born in Stuttgart (Germany).
Precisely because he had the nationality of a neutral country, he was saved from participating in World War I. But he did come to Jávea to find a refuge to create and depart from the madness that Europe was experiencing. In the land he bought, he did a work of repopulation of pines and rebuilt a house according to the architecture of the region, which became his workshop. This type of construction is called domus labertina. The painter managed to keep this part of the coast safe from mass urbanization for decades.
Construction
From his workshop in Cala Blanca Illustrations of works such as:
- Tales by Hoffmann (1925)
- Metamorphosis of Ovid (1930)
- Candid by Voltaire (1932)
- The Lazarillo de Tormes (1942)
- Salambo of Flaubert (1948)
- auspicious of Goethe (1949)
- Salomé by Oscar Wilde (1953)
- El Quijote from Cervantes
Theme and style
He always felt very close to Xàbia: he made many watercolors and engravings of the urban area and the surroundings.
Also of nature, of the archaeological remains and of customary figures.
He also worked on the landscapes of Paris and other areas of Spain, especially Andalusia and Valencian themes.
Also the mythological allegories. His painting and engravings are modernist in style, with a symbolic influence and inclined towards Greco-Roman classicism.
Also with influences of the eroticism of the French artists Paul-Émile Becaut and Edouard Chimot.
Curiosities
- André Lambert changed his workshops in Montparnasse and later in Saint Louis, famous areas of Paris, for the house of Cala Blanca. At that time, I enjoyed the friendship of Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and a large group of artists and poets.
- His father, André-Louis Lambert Perret, was an architect and spent the end of his life with his son also here, in Xàbia, leaving in turn a legacy of watercolors from Jávea landscapes.
- Also his daughter, Milagro Lambert, has carried the name of Jávea throughout Europe. Milagro has always been very integrated in the town.
His footprint in Javea
Andre Lambert has a street with his name in the port.
The Center D'Art Ca Lambert, also named in his honor, is an exhibition hall that enriches the cultural offer of the city.
Ca Lambert is installed in a 80th-century house belonging to raisin merchants, right in the center of Xàbia, and that served as a pharmacy (the old Tena pharmacy) until the XNUMXs of the XNUMXth century.
André Lambert always felt closely linked to Javea both in the artistic and emotional aspects. He died in Paris on November 24, 1967, but his remains were moved to Jávea and buried under the pines of Cala Blanca.
Images of his works
In the Boardroom of the Javea Town Hall, there are a series of engravings of landscapes of the municipality:
They meet the characteristic features of the painter's theme: nature and landscapes of Xàbia. You can see them one by one below:
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View of Jávea, the work of André Lambert that is located in the Town Hall of Xàbia
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View of the rooftops of the old town of Xàbia, the work of André Lambert
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View of the watchtower of Jávea, designed by André Lambert
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The Cape of San Antonio seen from Jávea, engraving by André Lambert
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Fishing boat, work that hangs from the wall of the Boardroom of the City of Xàbia
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View of Montgó from Jávea, engraving by André Lambert
