Alfred Manessier (5 December 1911,
Saint-Ouen – 1 August 1993,
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [non-figurative
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...]
French painter, stained glass artist, and tapestry designer, part of the new
School of Paris
The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century.
The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance ...
and the
Salon de Mai
The Salon de Mai (the '' May Salon'') is a group of French artists which formed in a café on the Rue Dauphine in Paris in 1943 during the German occupation of France.Ferrier, Jean-Louis. (Ed.) (1999) ''Art of the 20th Century''. Paris: Chene-Hache ...
.
Biography
Manessier was born among fishers and masons in the Picardy province of Northern France. There was a family precedent for creative work, as the grandfather was a decorative stonemason while his father and uncle had studied at
Ecole des Beaux Arts at Abbeville. The "father gave the young man permission to go to Paris on condition that he studied architecture, which was a safer occupation than that of painter. It was not until his father, then a wholesale wine merchant in Amiens, suddenly died that he was able to change over" to his preferred art studies. He had enrolled in architecture in 1929, switched to art with
Roger Bissiere at
Académie Ranson
The Académie Ranson was founded in Paris by the French painter Paul Ranson (1862–1909), who himself studied at the Académie Julian, in 1908. in 1935 just prior to the father's death in 1936.
![SignatureManessier](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/SignatureManessier.jpg)
In 1937 at the Paris International Exposition, the French government appointed
Sonia Delaunay
Sonia Delaunay (13 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in Odessa (then part of Russian Empire), and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to Fr ...
and
Robert Delaunay
Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...
to represent avant-garde art in Paris transportation centers such as Air Palace and Railways Palace. The couple was given the task to employ and reside with 50 unemployed artists for March and April to create a substantial project of of artwork. Among the artists were Bissiere,
Jean Bertholle
Jean Bertholle (26 June 1909, Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune ...
, and Manessier, who worked on four murals. The following year he married painter Therese Simonnet. In 1939 Manessier was called into military conscription, as a technical draftsman. In 1940, expecting the birth of his son, he found work as a farmhand to support the growing family but by 1941 he returned to Paris to exhibit in the Gallery Braun show "20 Young Painters" that ushered into France the non-figurative movement. Despite the abstract style centered in what the occupying Germans deemed "degenerate" modes, and despite Manessier's teaching at the anti-authority and anti-indoctrination organization Young France, the painter was not censored or molested The Young France organization prepared youth for work at the end of the German Occupation, with a teaching staff that also included
Jean Bazaine,
Jean Vilar
Jean Vilar (25 March 1912– 28 May 1971) was a French actor and theatre director.
Vilar trained under actor and theatre director Charles Dullin, then toured with an acting company throughout France. His directorial career began in 1943 in a sma ...
,
Jean Desailly
Jean Desailly (24 August 1920 – 11 June 2008) was a French actor. He was a member of the Comédie-Française from 1942 to 1946, and later participated in about 90 movies.
Life and career
Desailly studied at the École nationale supérieure des ...
, Andre Clement.
Manessier left teaching in 1943 for painting full-time. During this year he made a 3-day visit to the Trappist monastery in Orne. Demoralized by the Occupation and war, at the monastery he was deeply moved by the ancient garb and art, chants and worship, rhythms of work and silence by the monks. "I felt profoundly the cosmic link between sacred chanting and the world of nature all around. These men who sang were perhaps a little out of touch with the world but there was truth in their relationship with nature" he recalled. "If we had the evangelical purity of the Primitives, if we could look at nature with all innocence of love, then perhaps we could depict the sacred as they did. But we are men of this century: broken, exploded." Thus began the fertile period of abstract painting: "mosaic-like patterns, luminous colors often supported by a heavy black grid."
Between paintings, he soon began to explore other mediums for expression. In 1945 his daughter was born, and the 34-year-old Manessier was commissioned to produce costumes and sets for ''Marie-Anne Victoire'' production at
Studio des Champs-Élysées
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...
. In 1947 he was commissioned to produce two stained glass windows for a
Breseux church. In 1949 he produced a tapestry for the Dominicans of Saulchoir, Seine-et-Oise. These other mediums were ongoing supplements to his painting, throughout his career (selected theatre work includes a 1960 Nervi Italy mounting of the ''Decameron'' involving 340 costumes and 18 sets, costumes for a 1963 production of ''Galileo Galilei'' at
Theatre National Populaire
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
, Paris; selected stained glass work includes 1952 project at All Saints Church in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, 1957 project at
Chapel of Ste Therese in Nord, 1959 at
Munsterkirche in Essen, 1964 at
St Gereau in Cologne, and 1968 for
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
' Convent of the Soeurs de l'Assomption; selected tapestry work includes 1952 commission for
State of France, 1957 benediction cape for a Nord church, and a 1969 commission for the
National Arts Center in Ottawa).
This latter project in Canada triggered for Manessier another spiritual awakening. When visiting Canada in 1967 to view the projected Arts building site and to assess the
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
light, he was inspired during discussions of Canada's large areas of undeveloped land and Inuit art and life relatively untouched by Western culture: "I had a feeling of having penetrated elemental nature. The bottom of the lake is full of roots and of decomposed vegetation, and nature is reborn by way of all this. Never have I experienced a similar sensation. I discovered a prehistoric dimension."
He was the victim of a car accident in
Loiret
Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434. on 28 July 1993, and died four days later at the Source hospital in
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Abbeville
Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France.
It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...]
and he was buried in the
Cimetière de Saint-Ouen
The Saint-Ouen Cemetery (french: cimetière parisien de Saint-Ouen) is located just north of Montmartre at Saint-Ouen, near Paris. The cemetery consists of two parts. The first, located on Rue Adrien Lesesne opened in 1860 and the second at 2 A ...
at his birthplace.
Selected awards
*1953 São Paulo Biennale, 1st Prize for Painting
*1954 Vienna Exhibition of Sacred Art, 1st Prize
*1955 Carnegie Institute Pittsburgh, International Grand Prize for Contemporary Painting
*1955 Valencia Venezuela, International Painting Prize
*1958 Grenchen Switzerland Triennale, 1st Prize for Engravings
*1958 Venice Biennale, International Institute of Liturgical Art: for painting «Crown of Thorns» (Fr. ''Couronne d’épines''), 1952.
*1962 Venice Biennale, International Grand Prix for Painting
Selected museums and public collections
*Cologne,
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
*Berlin,
Nationalgalerie
The National Gallery (german: Nationalgalerie) in Berlin, Germany, is a museum for art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is part of the Berlin State Museums. From the Alte Nationalgalerie, which was built for it and opened in 1876, its ex ...
*Rio de Janeiro, Museo de Arte Moderna
*Helsinki, Kunstmuseum Atheneum
*Paris, Ministère des Affaires Culturelles
*Le Havre, Le Havre Musee
*Rotterdam, Museum Boymans Van Beuningen
*Turin, Museo Civico
*Luxembourg, Musee d'Histoire et d'Art
*Oslo, Nasjonalgalleriet
*Malmo, Malmo Museum
*Melbourne,
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
*Stockholm,
Moderna Museet
Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...
*Zurich, Kunsthaus
*New York,
Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Museums in this group include:
Locations
Americas
* The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...
*New York,
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
*DC,
Phillips Collection
The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin ...
[Hodin, JP, ''Manessier'', 1972 Praeger Publishers]
*
Bechtler Museum, Charlotte, NC
*
University of Agder
The University of Agder ( no, Universitetet i Agder), formerly known as Agder College and Agder University College, is a public university with campuses in Kristiansand and Grimstad, Norway. The institution was established as a university co ...
, Art Collection, Norway
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manessier, Alfred
1911 births
1993 deaths
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
French male painters
Abstract painters
French stained glass artists and manufacturers
French tapestry artists
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
French abstract artists
Road incident deaths in France
Burials at Saint-Ouen Cemetery