Claude Le Baube

Claude Le Baube (1919–2007) was a painter and sea captain. His works consist mostly of landscapes painted on location, of realistic historical naval scenes very precisely detailed and brushed by his ambidextrous hands, and of still-lives blended with eccentric imagery. His oeuvre is a reflection of his knowledge of the maritime world, his numerous travels, his interest in and taste for distinctly drawn landscapes, and a consequence of an overflowing imagination that made him a phenomenal story teller animated by nostalgia—at times even by a certain anguish.

Born into a family of artists (he was the maternal grandson of two recognized painters Hortense Dury-Vasselon Grand Prix de Rome and Marius Vasselon, and the paternal grandson of Victor Le Baube, painter/sculptor), he began to draw at a very early age (his parents Marthe Vasselon and Robert Le Baube were themselves exceptional at drawing). The novels of Jules Verne (and the illustrations contained in the Hetzel book collection) left a profound mark on him in his childhood, and as a result they would be a longstanding source of inspiration. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.

Le Baube was the father of the photographer Guy le Baube and the uncle of the painter Guillaume Le Baube.