Gabrielle Bellocq (15 June 1920 - 29 July 1999) was a French
Neo-impressionist pastel
A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...
artist. She was known as a colorist, and her works, which were not painted from life, included a variety of colors that produced an unusual perspective and impressionistic effects.
Life and career
Bellocq was born in 1920 in Saint-Hillaire-de-Talmont, a seaside commune in the
Vendée department in the
Pays de la Loire
Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" ().
...
region in western
France. She lived most of her life near the sea in this region.
Her mother taught her piano and singing and organized painting lessons with nuns at the Couvent de Saint-Sornin. She developed a passion for painting and was taught to copy others' work through her painting instruction.
As a boarder at school from a young age, she spent her time on Sundays between
Sunday Mass,
Vespers, and walks in the Vendée countryside. Throughout this period, she accumulated a library of images that she later reproduced in Neo-impressionist pastel paintings.
Around 1950, she came to live on the banks of the river
Rance in a classic ''Malouinière'', or manor house. She reproduced idealized versions of the house and nearby pond in her paintings.
In the 1960s, she abandoned
watercolours and
guache to concentrate solely on using
pastels, which she would dedicate herself to for more than 30 years.
She exhibited worldwide, including in
Paris, France;
Windsor,
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...
, and
Salisbury, England;
Osaka, Japan;
Chicago, Illinois;
Sedona, Arizona; and
Ede, Netherlands.
She died in the summer of 1999 and rests in
Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, France.
Awards
Bellocq has been acknowledged by various
European artistic institutions, including
Salon des Artistes Francais,
Salon d’Automne
The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...
, and the
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
. In 1978, the purchase by the
French Ministry of Culture of her painting ''Ouverture sur'' ''l’océan'' (Opening onto the Ocean) for the National Collection confirmed Bellocq's stature as a prominent artist.
Some of her significant awards include:
* 1977 : Honourable Mention at the
Salon des Artistes Français
* 1978 : Prix Blanche Roullier
* 1979 : Prix
Marie Bashkirtseff, Prix Atrux-Beauclair de la Fondation
Baron Taylor, Prix Blanche Roullier
* 1980 : Médaille d’Argent du Salon des Artistes français, Prix Blanche Roullier
* 1981 : Prix Raybaud
* 1983 : Prix Blanche Roullier
* 1984 : Médaille d’Or du Salon des Artistes français
* 1987 : Grand Prix de la ville de
Dinard
References
External links
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellocq, Gabrielle
1920 births
1999 deaths
French artists
Pastel artists