Gaston Bussière (April 24, 1862, in
Cuisery – October 29, 1928 or 1929, in
Saulieu) was a French
Symbolist painter and illustrator.
Biography
Bussière studied at l'Académie des Beaux-Arts in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
before entering the
école des beaux-arts de Paris where he studied under
Alexandre Cabanel and
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (; 14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Ar ...
. In 1884, he won the
Marie Bashkirtseff
Marie Bashkirtseff, born Maria Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva (; – 31 October 1884), was an émigré artist who was born into a noble family on their estate near the city of Poltava. She lived and worked in Paris, and died at the age of 25.
L ...
prize.
He was close to
Gustave Moreau. He found inspiration in the theatre works of
Berlioz (''La Damnation de Faust'') as well as
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
. He became in demand as an illustrator, creating works for major authors. He illustrated
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...
's ''
Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes'' published in 1897, ''Émaux et camées'', written by
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic.
While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
, as well as
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
's ''
Salomé''. He also illustrated several works by
Flaubert.
An associate of
Joséphin Péladan, the founder of the
Rose-Croix esthétique, Bussière exhibited his works at
Salon de la Rose-Croix over two years.
Many of his works are on exhibit at the
Musée des Ursulines in
Mâcon
Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...
.
Gallery
File:BUSSIERE Gaston - Yseult la blonde.jpg, '' Yseult the Blonde''
File:Jeanne d'Arc - Gaston Bussière.jpg, ''Jeanne d'Arc
Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
''
File:Gaston Bussière - Leilah.jpg, ''Leilah'' (1913)
File:Gaston Bussière - Umarmung in Abendlicht.jpg, ''Embrace in Evening Light'' (1927)
File:Gaston Brussiere23.jpg, ''Isolde: La Princesse Celte'' (1911)
File:Bussiere Revelation.jpg, ''The Revelation: Brünnhilde discovering Sieglinde and Siegmund'' (1894)
File:Bussiere Ophelia.jpg, '' Ophelia'' (circa 1900)
File:Gaston Brussiere25.jpg, '' Viviane and Merlin
The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
'' (circa 1900)
File:Gaston Brussiere22.jpg, ''Elsa and Lohengrin'' (1910)
File:Bussiere Tristan et Iseult.jpg, ''Tristan and Iseult
Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Of disputed source, usually assumed to be primarily Celtic nations, Celtic, the tale is a ...
'' (1911)
References
External links
Inventory of paintings by Gaston Bussière on the French Ministry of Culture database JocondeA biography is available through the Burgundy museums Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buissiere, Gaston
19th-century French painters
French male painters
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
French Symbolist painters
French illustrators
1862 births
1920s deaths
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
Symbolist artists
Symbolist painters
19th-century French male artists