Marie François Régis Gignoux studied first at the Academy of St. Pierre in his native Lyons before going to Paris and entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he worked under Paul Delaroche and Horace Vernet. Although initially interested in history painting, he had turned to painting landscape even before immigrating to America. He came over, it was said, in pursuit of a young American lady he had met in Paris. He arrived in 1840, settled in Brooklyn, and secured the lady as his bride.
Gignoux made a specialty of depicting the seasons' effects on the landscapes of his adopted country. He was especially admired for his winter landscapes, which, according to the critic Henry Tuckerman, were said to be "so truthful that they would almost allure a snow-bunting from the sky." Within only a few years of the artist's arrival in New York, a writer for the New World declared him a "man of genius." With such remarks appearing in the press, it is no wonder that many young artists began going to Gignoux for instruction. Among these was George Inness, who studied with Gignoux from 1843 to 1845.
He first appeared in an Academy annual in 1842, with a view of New Jersey scenery. In the next year's annual, he was represented by thirteen landscapes, including views of a mill near the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky-indicating that he had been traveling in the South. A few years later he went to Canada to experience its scenery; his several large views of Niagara Falls, executed in the late 1840s, drew critical attention and praise. A prolific contributor to the annuals through 1868, Gignoux showed a mixture of scenes identified with New Jersey, Brooklyn, the Hudson River Valley, Virginia, and North Carolina as well as scenes of Italy, Switzerland, and France; the latter were presumably executed from sketches and memory.
Although he maintained his studio in Manhattan, Gignoux lived in Brooklyn and took an especially active role in the development and promotion of art there. A founder of the Brooklyn Art Association, he served as its first president from 1861 to 1869 and probably would have continued in that post had he not decided to return to France. The association tendered him a farewell reception, widely reported in the press, to express its appreciation for his years of service; it was noted that he intended to stay abroad several years but might decide not to return. Gignoux was back at work in New York in March 1874, but apparently that was a brief visit. He spent his remaining years working in his native land.
Gignoux, who had served on the Academy Council for the 1862-63 term, was remembered in the Council's tribute following his death as one of the Academy's "most distinguished members," notably for his "charming renderings of American landscape, especially in the subtle aspects and atmospheres of the Spring and Winter Seasons."
