PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Asia

EXHIBITED:
André Brasilier , Musée Picasso - Château Grimaldi, Antibes, France, June 3 - 30, 1988
André Brasilier , Stadthalle Balingen, Balingen, Germany, August 13 - September 9, 1988
Hommage à André Brasilier , Conseil Général, Angers, organized by Mme Sauvage, 1989
Le monde élégant et fantastique de la France, André Brasilier , Electric Museum, Nagoya, Japan, September 13 - October 15, 1989, Collaboration: Foundation of Nichido Kasama Museum,
Tokyo. ; Hanshin Department Store, Osaka, Japan, October 26 - 31, 1989 ; Daimaru-Nagasaki Department Store, Nagasaki,
Japan, January 3 - 14, 1990 ; Matsuya Department Store, Omuta,
Japan, January 24 - 29, 1990 ; Yamakataya Department Store,
Kagoshima, Japan, February 1 - 12, 1990 ; Nichido Kasama
Museum, Ibaraki, Japan, March 3 - April 8, 1990
L’exposition des Brasilier de Brasilier , Japan, April 2 - September 8, 1992 ; Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, April 2 - 14, 1992 ;
Navio Museum, Osaka, April 18 - May 17, 1992 ; Marui Imai
Multipurpose Room, Sapporo, July 2 - July 7, 1992 ; Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin Store, Fukuoka, September 3 - 9, 1992
André Brasilier à Bagatelle , Mairie de Paris, Paris, September 30 - November 29, 1992. Organization: Didier Jumeaux et Partenaires
André Brasilier , Palais de Carnolès, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Menton, France, August - September, 1994
Brasilier , L’Arsenal et Galerie Arts Gambetta, Metz, France, June 17 - September 10, 1995
André Brasilier , Castle of Vascoeuil, Vascoeuil, France, August - September, 1996

ILLUSTRATED:
Yann le Pichon, André Brasilier: Ses Transfigurations , Editions Séguier, Paris, 1989, color illustrated, p. 177
André Brasilier: Le Monde élégant et fantastique de la France , Kasama Nichido Bijutsukan, Tokyo, 1989, color illustrated, no. 27
L’exposition des Brasilier de Brasilier, Didier Jumeaux et Partenaires, TG. Concepts Inc., Tokyo, 1992, color illustrated, no. 53, p. 76
André Brasilier , Les Éditions Callithos, Paris, 1994, color illustrated, p. 32
Xavier de Coulanges, André Brasilier: Catalogue Raisonnée 1982- 2002 (v.I) , Acatos Publishing, Lausanne, 2004, color illustrated, p. 30
Lydia Harambourg, André Brasilier: Collection Mise en lumière , Editions Cercle d’Art, Paris, 2007, color illustrated, no. 50

CENTRAL PARK
ANDRÉ BRASILIER

"...I WANT TO PAY TRIBUTE TO HER (CHANTAL), AND THANK HER
FOR HER ONTINUOUS INSPIRATION."－ ANDRÉ BRASILIER

Brasilier was born into an artistic family. Enrolled in the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1949, he won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome for painting in 1953, and in 1961 received the Prix Charles-Morellet at the Salon de la Jeune Peinture. He hails Gauguin as the father of his inspiration; women, music, horses, and the four seasons are all subjects of his artwork. Integrating eastern imagery, he is known for his elegant painting style, and has exhibited his work all over the world. In 1980, he held his first retrospective as the first painter to be invited by the Château de Chenonceau, and in 1988 he held another retrospective at Musée Picasso-Château Grimaldi in Antibe of the French Riviera. In 2005, he held an Exhibition-retrospective at the Hermitage Museum in Russia, and another exhibition at the Museum Haus Ludwig in Germany in 2007.

"...I want to pay tribute to her, and thank her for her
continuous inspiration." － André Brasilier

Married for over 50 years, the artist has only endless love and adoration for his wife, Chantal. He has never stopped creating art in her name, Brasilier's eternal muse. Even a commission from the Eglise Pompadour to paint an angel in the chapel was painted in her likeness. Brasilier believes that depicting a character's spirit is an indisputable, everlasting form of expression in the history of art, and he has spent his entire life working towards this goal. And how lucky he is, to have met and become wedded to his muse. From the first day they met at the Medici Gardens by the Tiber River, his heart and soul, as well as his art, have been occupied by her image and her image only.

Central Park was created in New York in 1983. It depicts Lady Chantal, with tilted head and faraway gaze, lying on her side by the lake in Central Park. The trees are faintly reflected on the surface of the lake; riders on horseback stroll past, and pale blue lines depict the outlines of skyscrapers. The image is devoid of bustle, and is instead imbued with a sense of leisurely elegance. Brasilier kept this piece in his private collection for many years, showing it only in exhibitions around Europe and Asia, and created limited prints. Like Picasso did with "Guernica," Brasilier stresses that certain themes must be presented on a large canvas, so that the vastness of the image corresponds dynamically with the viewers’ movements and make them feel as if they were part of the painting. A life of creating art is a grand adventure. As if it is his first day in this world, Brasilier maintains a great passion for life, dedicates himself entirely to his art, leaves behind paintings that show a perspective of love and harmony, and expresses an adoration of life that warms the heart.

Growing up in the countryside castle of Saumur, Touraine in Angevin and Maine-et-Loire, France, horses and trees marked his countryside childhood and wartime experience; as an adult, life in the small town of Lupeigne northeast of Paris gave him the same sensations: the power and serenity of nature. Though he now lives in Fontainebleau, Paris, fond memories of these two places still give him energy; they are his connection to the earth, sanctuaries of his heart and soul. From Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, to Brazil's Villa-Lobos, music is another of Brasilier's sources of inspiration.

Painting is not just recording things with a realistic approach, but incorporating "the imagery within." He looks up to and admires the work of other artists, has visited the Sistine Chapel in Italy numerous times to feel the brushstrokes of Michaelangelo, and has strolled though museums to broaden his perspective of art and experience the traces etched by the human spirit. He is inspired by the literary works of Chinese-born French academician and Académie française Francois Cheng, and was close friends with Higashiyama Kaii for many years.

Simplification is what he strives to achieve in his work. Unlike minimalists, Brasilier's abundant knowledge makes him more of what is referred to in the east as a "return to innocence." Between the figurative and the abstract, Brasilier chooses to use both to depict the realities of life, breaking free from the confines of the material world, just as Rouault, Gauguin, and Picasso have all accomplished. Painters need not follow the tide. Instead, it is their mission to identify their own orientation and perspective in order to become a steady stone in the rapid flow of art.