ArtistBoncompain, Pierre

Artist Years1938-living

Artist NationalityFrench

TitleNiade

Yearca. 1970

MediumDrawing > Watercolor

DimensionsComposition: 12 X 11 inches

Accession NumberRC1721

NotesPierre Boncompain, born on May 17, 1938, in Valence, Drôme, is a French painter and printmaker

His father, Claude Boncompain, published a biography of Stendhal, praised by Paul Morand, Léonardo Sciascia, and Jean Giono, a life of Joseph de Maistre, and a dozen novels, including Le cavalier de Riouclare, adapted for the screen under the title Sortilège, an adaptation by Jacques Prévert and directed by Christian-Jaque.

His brother, Jacques Boncompain, a literary agent, is the author of several works, including A History of the Status of Authors from Antiquity to the Present Day (published by Fayard and Champion).

His sister, Mariette Grelier, née Boncompain, is a Spanish teacher and the author of several works in Spanish and Portuguese, such as Contemporary Spanish Grammar [archive], The Essentials of Grammar, and Mini-Grammar.

After classical studies at the Collège Saint Joseph in Avignon, where his first artistic endeavor was to paint a fresco in the scouts' hall, he moved to Paris, attended the Académie Charpentier, and graduated top of his class at the National School of Decorative Arts (1958 - Jean-Paul Goude and Jérome Savary's class).

He joined Raymond Legueult's studio at the National School of Fine Arts. He was a guest fellow at the Fondation de Lourmarin Laurent-Vibert (1963).

He received the Collioure Prize for a painting from the Salon d'Automne. He designed the sets and costumes for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and a Chekhov play for the Alain Ollivier company. Career

Art critic Georges Besson of Lettres Françaises, a friend of Bonnard and Matisse, noticed him at the Salon de la Jeune Peinture at the Musée d'Art Moderne and introduced him to the Guiot Gallery, which presented his first exhibitions.

In 1970, he won the Critics' Prize and was selected for the Charles Pacquement Prize from the Friends of the Musée d'Art Moderne. In 1977, he was sent on a cultural mission to India by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with Michel Tournier and Robert Sabatier. From this trip, he brought back the batiks that would later appear in his still lifes.

A lover of literature and poetry, he frequented writers such as Ernst Jünger, Michel Déon, Roger Caillois, Daniel Boulanger, Pierre Guyotat, Francis Ponge, René Char, and filmmaker Robert Bresson. He exhibits regularly in France and abroad, including Japan, China, and the United States.

In 1989, he married Colette Malet, who became his main model. In 1990, he exhibited for five months at the Château de Chenonceau.

In 2000, he painted a mural at the Johnson and Johnson Foundation's Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey.

In 2002, the Shanghai Museum of Fine Arts held a retrospective of his work. He works in both oil and pastel, illustrates bibliophile books, creates an engraved work of approximately 300 lithographs, some 30 tapestries woven by Atelier 3, and a ceramic work at the Atelier Sassi-Milici in Vallauris.

He is an honorary citizen of the city of Kobe (Japan), a member of the Académie de l'Art de Vivre founded by Pierre Benoit, Paul Morand, and Jean Cocteau, and a member of the Académie Drômoise.

In 2014, he created the Catalogue Raisonné of Pastels and Oil Paintings under the direction of art historian Dominique Vergnon.
(source: wikipedia.og)