Gaston Bussière (April 24, 1862 in Cuisery – October 29, 1928 or 1929 in

Saulieu Saulieu () is a rural commune in the Côte-d'Or department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Its 2,413 inhabitants (in 2017) call themselves Sédélociens. Capital of the Morvan, situated within the Morvan Regional Na ...

) was a French

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

painter and illustrator.

Biography

Bussière studied at l'Académie des Beaux-Arts in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

before entering the école des beaux-arts de Paris where he studied under

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. According to ''Diccionario Enciclopedi ...

and

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French people, French Painting, 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 Soci ...

. In 1884, he won the

Marie Bashkirtseff Marie Bashkirtseff (born Mariya Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva, russian: Мария Константиновна Башки́рцева; 1858–1884) was a Ukrainian artist from the Russian Empire who worked in Paris, France. She died aged 25. Li ...

prize. He was close to

Gustave Moreau Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.' ...

. He found inspiration in the theatre works of Berlioz (''La Damnation de Faust'') as well as

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 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, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. 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;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...

's ''

Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes ''Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes'', translated variously as ''The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans'', ''A Harlot High and Low'', or as ''Lost Souls'', is an 1838-1847 novel by French novelist Honoré de Balzac, published in four initi ...

'' 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 rem ...

, as well as

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's '' Salomé''. He also illustrated several works by

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

. 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 anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M� ...

Gallery

File:BUSSIERE Gaston - Yseult la blonde.jpg, '' Yseult the Blonde'' File:Jeanne d'Arc - Gaston Bussière.jpg, ''

Jeanne d'Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 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 coronati ...

'' 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 Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label= Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda ...

discovering Sieglinde and Siegmund'' (1894) File:Bussiere Ophelia.jpg, ''

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in ...

'' (circa 1900) File:Gaston Brussiere25.jpg, '' Viviane and

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

'' (circa 1900) File:Gaston Brussiere22.jpg, ''Elsa and

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...

'' (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. Based on a Celtic legend and possibly other sources, the tale is a tragedy about the illic ...

'' (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 1928 deaths École des Beaux-Arts alumni Symbolist artists Symbolist painters 19th-century French male artists