JEAN-PIERRE CASSIGNEUL ~ Chapeau Blanc ~ Sold

Following in the tradition of the early 20th century French artists, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard, Jean-Pierre Cassigneul is considered a great exponent of post Fauvism both as a bold colorist and for creating wonderful masterpieces with great sensitivity. He was a painter, lithographer, engraver and illustrator. Born in Paris in 1935, he studied at the Académie Charpentier in 1954 and then under Jean Souverbie, who had cubist influences in his work and was the head professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A year later, Cassigneul enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts to continue his training. Between 1956 and 1960, Jean Pierre Cassigneul was instructed by Chapelain-Midy and worked in his studio. During this period, he held exhibitions in Paris, including the Galerie des Beaux-Arts and was appointed a member of the Salon d’Automne. By 1965, he met Kiyoshi Tamenaga, who would become his art dealer in Japan. He first showed his work at the International Exhibition of Figurative Art in Tokyo and would show there many more times throughout his career. Cassigneul also began creating lithographs around this time. Throughout the 1970s, Jean Pierre Cassigneul exhibited extensively throughout Europe, Japan and the United States.

Cassigneul is known for his avant-garde and bold compositions of women in floral hats, complete with frequent allusions to other aspects of the Années Folles and especially for his dramatic portraits that incorporated bright, vivid colors. He was strongly influenced by expressionist painter, Kees Van Dongen in his fauve period. It is perhaps from Van Dongen that Cassigneul learned the secret of the green shadows around the eyes and the nacreous quality of the skin, but Cassigneul’s freshness of tones, rich touch and glowing warmth are his own. Cassigneul’s use of color conveys a sense of freshness and youth. He paints women as they appeared in the time of Marcel Proust but preserves in his portraits the eternal elements of feminine beauty. Spontaneity and light fill his paintings. His work expresses the joy of an artist who is fascinated with the mystery of beauty.

Cassigneul’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe, Japan and the United States, including shows at the Galerie Tivey Faucon and Galerie Bellechase, Paris; Gallery Tamenaga, Japan and Wally Findlay Gallery, New York. His work was illustrated in several books, including “Les Pièces condamnées” by Charles Baudelaire and “Le Tour de Malheur” by Joseph Kessel. Cassigneul created several commissions for theaters, hotels and even for the city of Nagasaki. In 2005, at the age of 70, an exhibition was organized to celebrate fifty years of work that traveled throughout seven major cities in Japan.

On viewing this painting one is aware that he worked with intense unmixed colours and considerable simplification of form to create a powerful composition. His characteristic style is responsible for his reputation as one of the most important representatives of post Fauvism. This wonderful example of his work is presented in pristine condition in its original period frame and is signed by the artist.