PRINTPROVENANCE:
Private collection, USA
Sotheby's, New York, May 30, 2014, lot 168
Acquired by the present owner from the above
To be included in the forthcoming Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint d'André Brasilier being prepared by Xavier d'Aleyrac de Coulanges.
Catalogue Note:
Born on October 29, 1929 to an artistic family where both of his parents were painters His father Jacques Brasilier is a symbolist painter, close to the Nabis. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1949, in Maurice Brianchon's studio. Brasilier was awarded with the first prize of the Prix de Rome in 1953, a government grant given to young artists in France to study in Rome, at the age of 23 only. Brasilier stayed at the Villa Medici in Rome for three years.
In 1961, he 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, followed by a major retrospective exhibition being held at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia and later at Museum Haus Ludwig at Saarlois, Germany in 2005. The show exhibited the work of Brasilier from 1950 till 2004, that’s over half a century’s work and time devoted in art.
The diversified creation of works presented on the show included book illustrations, stage design and decorations, tapestries, ceramics besides paintings. Brasilier is also one of the greatest ceramic artists of the time; his ceramic works were displayed in an exhibition of the Ceramic Museum of Mattlach in Germany alongside Picasso, Braque, Chagall and Miro.
Growing up in the countryside castle of Saumur, Touraine in Anjou 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 Vatican City 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 François Cheng, and was close friends with Japanese artist Higashiyama Kaii for many years.
Influenced by expressionism, Chinese literature and Japanese ukiyo-e, André Brasilier’s work is typified by a breezy lyricism, wherein real-life subjects are transposed into dreamlike settings. In the present work of, Fenétre sur le parc , depicts an excellent landscape with the tall and elegant lady Chantal, his beloved wife, relying on the window and caressing the blooming blue and white bouquet. There are green woods and grass outside the window. It portrays a poetic world, with delicate compositional and color harmonies bathed in soft, cool light.''...I want to pay tribute to her (Chantel), and thank her for her continuous inspiration.'' said André Brasilier. 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.
Brasilier is fond of painting fine-looking herd of horses, beautiful scenery and figurative paintings, as he once claimed “One can measure the importance of a painter by his or her ability to portray the human form.” 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, he 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.
Private collection, USA
Sotheby's, New York, May 30, 2014, lot 168
Acquired by the present owner from the above
To be included in the forthcoming Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint d'André Brasilier being prepared by Xavier d'Aleyrac de Coulanges.
Catalogue Note:
Born on October 29, 1929 to an artistic family where both of his parents were painters His father Jacques Brasilier is a symbolist painter, close to the Nabis. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1949, in Maurice Brianchon's studio. Brasilier was awarded with the first prize of the Prix de Rome in 1953, a government grant given to young artists in France to study in Rome, at the age of 23 only. Brasilier stayed at the Villa Medici in Rome for three years.
In 1961, he 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, followed by a major retrospective exhibition being held at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia and later at Museum Haus Ludwig at Saarlois, Germany in 2005. The show exhibited the work of Brasilier from 1950 till 2004, that’s over half a century’s work and time devoted in art.
The diversified creation of works presented on the show included book illustrations, stage design and decorations, tapestries, ceramics besides paintings. Brasilier is also one of the greatest ceramic artists of the time; his ceramic works were displayed in an exhibition of the Ceramic Museum of Mattlach in Germany alongside Picasso, Braque, Chagall and Miro.
Growing up in the countryside castle of Saumur, Touraine in Anjou 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 Vatican City 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 François Cheng, and was close friends with Japanese artist Higashiyama Kaii for many years.
Influenced by expressionism, Chinese literature and Japanese ukiyo-e, André Brasilier’s work is typified by a breezy lyricism, wherein real-life subjects are transposed into dreamlike settings. In the present work of, Fenétre sur le parc , depicts an excellent landscape with the tall and elegant lady Chantal, his beloved wife, relying on the window and caressing the blooming blue and white bouquet. There are green woods and grass outside the window. It portrays a poetic world, with delicate compositional and color harmonies bathed in soft, cool light.''...I want to pay tribute to her (Chantel), and thank her for her continuous inspiration.'' said André Brasilier. 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.
Brasilier is fond of painting fine-looking herd of horses, beautiful scenery and figurative paintings, as he once claimed “One can measure the importance of a painter by his or her ability to portray the human form.” 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, he 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.