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Gaston Chaissac
(1910-1964)
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| Symbolist painter
Gaston Chaissac was born in Avallon, France to a family
of modest means. He was a self-taught painter, and did
odd jobs until he moved to Paris in 1937. It was said
that his interest in art was brought on by friend and
neighbor artist Otto Freundlich, who gave him a great
deal of encouragement and helped him to expose his work
for the first time in 1938. The same year, he was also
hospitalized for tuberculosis but created artwork just
the same. |
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Pen and Ink
Untitled
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| His earliest work
is dominated by pen and ink sketches. He would
eventually come to also work in colored pencil, gouache,
oil and even stained glass. Chaissac would eventually be
called a rustic-modern painter, basically a naïve
painter who frequently experimented and was always
searching for ways to express himself. His work is often
mistaken for abstraction, but Chaissac was really a
forerunner for European modernism. |
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Deux Personnages
Composition a Une Tete
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Chaissac truly tried
to separate himself from the current art movements going
on in Europe at the time. He preferred to live in the
country and would use unconventional materials like
wallpaper, leather, furniture, rocks and cardboard,
shunning classical mediums and methods. The
stained-glass type black lines that would usually be
surrounding his subjects are typical characters of his
compositions. He also had obvious Cubist influences
toward the end of his career. |
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Untitled, 1961, gouache on paper
Untitled on Wood
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Chaissac was highly
prolific and successful during his lifetime, and his
works can be found worldwide, including at the Pompidou
Centre in Paris. |
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Sculpture, 1961, Pompidou
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He worked nearly up
until the end of his life creating a number of varied
and unique pieces. Most of his works are clearly signed
“Chaissac” in capital letters or in cursive script on
the front of his paintings, though this may have not
been a consistent practice for the artist. |
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Personnage, 1962 |
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