PENAUD Maurice (EN)

Biographical Article

Maurice Penaud was born in Sauzé-Vaussais in the Deux-Sèvres department on July 5, 1886. In 1889, his family moved to Paris. In 1900, he fell in love with the automobile, then a great novetly, and became an apprentice mechanic. In 1907, he left France to perfect his mechanical knowledge in New York but quickly received orders to return to his country for his military service.

In 1908, at the Arsenal de Vincennes, he participated in the assembly of the first armoured car, which he tested in the Moroccan desert alongside General Lyautey (1854-1934). Back in Paris, in 1909 he entered the service of Jacques Hinstin (1868-1948), managing director of the Société des Automobiles Grégoire, then partner in the company Hinstin et Cie, which manufactured chevron gears for Citroën. He carried out several automobile races under his aegis, including the Tour de France.

Between August 1920 and April 1921, the establishments of Jacques Hinstin and André Citroën (1878-1935) acquired the patents of engineer Adolphe Kégresse (1879-1943) concerning the propulsion of vehicles. Maurice Penaud participated in the assembly of the first vehicles fitted with half-tracks and rubber tyres. He carried out trials and demonstrations on board in France and then in the Sahara. Summoned to André Citroën's office, he was queried about of the possibility of crossing the desert by car. In light of his expertise, he replied in the affirmative.

Maurice Penaud participated with Louis Audouin-Dubreuil (1887-1960) in the first crossing of the Sahara by automobile (1922-1923), of which he was appointed chief mechanic. In this same capacity, he accompanied the subsequent two expeditions sponsored by Citroën: la Croisière noire (1924-1925) and la Croisière jaune (1931-1932). After devoting his life to his passion for mechanics and sharing memories of his epic journeys, he died on May 27, 1975 in Bédoin in the Vaucluse, at the foot of Mont Ventoux.

The Collection

On July 20, 1957, the "Maurice Penaud" room of the Saint-Jean-d'Angély museum was inaugurated. Its collection, recently entrusted to the city, boasts more than 870 items, ethnographic objects brought back from the Citroën Central Africa (1924-1925) and Central Asia (1931-1932) Expeditions (les Expéditions Citroën Centre-Afrique et Centre-Asie), the vast majority (771 items from Africa, 101 items from Asia, lot 1957.1).

The variety of elements preserved by Maurice Penaud attests to his interest in all aspects of the life of the populations he encountered. Among the African objects donated to Saint-Jean-d'Angély are ceramics, chiseled metal trays, dishes, tinned copper statuettes and Algerian furniture items (stool, bench, Koran holder), bracelets, sandals, purses, bags, cushions, a quiver, swords, sabres and scabbards, spears, saddles and packs of miniature Tuareg dromedaries, Peuhl hats and woolen and cotton blankets from Niger, Djerma fans from Niger, pyrographed calabashes, a dagger and a Tedda spear from Chad, an Ouolof or Toucouleur sword from Dahomey (Benin), necklaces, a bracelet, a quiver and a Banda shield from Oubangui-Chari, ornaments of the Mandja-Ali dance from Oubangui-Chari, purses and ostrich eggs from Sudan mounted on leather bands, bracelets, buttock cloths, daggers, sickle-knives, a jug, a mortar, a seat monopod and Mangbetou statuettes, three Kitéki Bembe statuettes, masks, arrows and command staff from the Belgian Congo, Mangelima knives from the Belgian Congo, Pygmy quivers and arrows from the Belgian Congo, a shield from Kenya, Malay kriss, a statuette, a scene representing a procession, and a sailboat in Madagascar pendulum. Elephant tusks, several of which are sculpted, antelope and gazelle horns from Chad, hippopotamus teeth and stuffed animals (a panther from Chad, a tortoise, an armadillo, a pangolin, a Didon fish from Madagascar) remind us that the rally was commissioned by the Natural History Museum of Paris. Several musical instruments (a bell from Niger, Banda drum and harp from Oubangui-Chari, Mangbetou harps and trumpet from the Belgian Congo, flute from Rwanda, zither from Madagascar) complete the set, as well as some thirty photographs and a diorama depicting scenes from the Citroën Center-Africa Expedition.

Among the objects from the Citroën Central-Asia Expedition and coming from India are the reconstruction of the Vishnu temple of Tiruchirappalli in balsa wood and statuettes in bronze, copper, and wood in the effigy of Buddhist deities. The objects collected in China are more numerous: tea service, vases, fans, chopsticks in their sheaths, opium pipes, perfume bottles, two incense burners, a remarkable Canton ball and its ivory support, a pass obtained from Jin Shuren, governor of Xinjiang province, between July and September 1931, a pair of hexagonal lanterns in openwork exotic wood carved with volutes, dragon heads and geometric elements, whose coaster paintings represent interior scenes (games, conversation, etc.) and exterior scenes together with Chinese auspicious attributes (peach, ring, plum blossoms, etc.), and two silk jackets and matching trousers and skirts form a beautiful set.

Maurice Penaud also gave the town of Saint-Jean-d'Angély several original drawings by the artist Alexandre Iacovleff (1887-1938): three portraits of Maurice Penaud, from 1924-1925 (?), July 1925, and 1933; a portrait of Maurice Penaud in a hat from December 21, 1931; a monumental bivouac fire in the Gobi desert made in 1934; and a portrait of Edmond Trillat made in July 1925.

Finally, at the auction "Les Croisières Citroën: collection Eric Deschamps" organised by Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris on Wednesday June 23, 2021, the Musée des Cordeliers acquired Maurice Penaud's album comprising 303 period photographs retracing the Croisière noire, as well as his travel kit used during the Croisière jaune (lined headband, heated gloves and flight goggles, heater, toiletry bags, set of razors, first aid kit, sewing kit, etc.) (MCSJA, batch 2021.6). Eric Deschamps added to these lots with the donation of a Maure transport bag from Niger, a Chinese silk and gold thread jacket and belt (1930s), a Vietnamese belt (1901) and 155 photographs of the Expédition Citroën Centre-Asie from the private fund of Maurice Penaud which he had acquired in the 1980s (MCSJA, lot 2021.7).