Pierre Emile Gabriel Lelong (24 March 1908 – 29 June 1984) was a neo-Impressionist painter based in France, winner of the Grand Prix des Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps in 1972. He is considered one of the postwar group of artists referred to as “La Nouvelle Ecole de Paris.”
Biography
Pierre Emile Lelong was born in 1908 in
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...
. His father, Albert Lelong, was a military man from Alsace; his mother, Marie Odette Collot, came from a Parisian family. She died when Pierre was six years old, at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Pierre was brought up largely by his grandmother, Madeleine Collot and his great-aunt Huguette. He began to draw and paint at an early age.
In the 1920s he took classes at the Atelier Julien in
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 ...
, but stopped painting in his late teens and early twenties – the period during which he was required to complete his military service. After finishing his tour of duty, he went to work for an insurance company, Mutualité Agricole, where he had a successful career and was able to travel during his vacations.
In about 1933 he started to paint again and by 1935 had rented a studio in
Montmartre
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
(91, rue Caulaincourt). He continued to work for the insurance company and to travel. His work appeared in newspapers and magazines. He first exhibited his work at the Salon des Indépendants in 1935, and as part of a group at the Galerie Rotgé. He later destroyed much of his earliest work, so few paintings from this period survive.
Pierre Lelong married Marie-Rose Salvatori, whose family came from
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
, in July 1938, and the couple spent four months in Trinidad not long after the wedding. In 1939 he moved his studio to 30 quai de Passy (later the avenue President Kennedy).
When
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out, he became a liaison officer for a British regiment. He was taken prisoner at
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.[Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...]
. He spent his time sketching his fellow prisoners and the events in the camp. He was later transferred to an outpost of Stalag IV-A, at
Zittau
Zittau ( hsb, Žitawa, dsb, Žytawa, pl, Żytawa, cs, Žitava, :de:Oberlausitzer Mundart, Upper Lusatian Dialect: ''Sitte''; from Slavic languages, Slavic "''rye''" (Upper Sorbian and Czech: ''žito'', Lower Sorbian: ''žyto'', Polish: ''żyto' ...
, near the Czech frontier. After at least one failed attempt at escape, he succeeded in 1942 and returned to France, where he turned his sketches into a book ''Une Vie de Camp'', published in 1943. He spent the remainder of the war in Trinidad with his wife’s family.
During this period (1943–45), he worked on his painting technique, which had been interrupted by his earlier military service and professional career. He and his wife moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
after the war, where their only son, Jean-François, was born. The family returned to France in 1947, and Lelong took a studio at 10, rue des Batignolles.
During the late 1940s, he produced illustrations for various journals, including ''Cavalcade'', ''Paysage'', ''La Pensée Française'', ''Lisez-moi'', ''Champs-Elysées'', ''Paris-Dimanche'', and ''Fantasia''.
La Galerie Doucet arranged a solo exhibition for Pierre Lelong in 1950. Thereafter, he exhibited more and more frequently: the
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 ...
, the Salon de la Peinture à l’Eau, the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon du Dessin. His work became increasingly well-known and in 1956, he was invited to do a portrait of the composer
Jacques Ibert
Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first ...
. He was also commissioned to paint frescos for several institutional clients.
He spent most summers in the south of France, and created a large body of work depicting boats, beaches, bathers, and southern towns. A fall from a horse in March 1961 led to a spell in hospital, but he recovered and continued to paint. A monograph on his work by Gerard Mourgue was published later that year.
He exhibited in the Salon des Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps in 1963. In 1966 he moved to a studio at 74, rue des Plantes, in the 14th arrondissement.
As
abstract art
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 19th ...
became more popular, he wrote articles defending
figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract a ...
, including “Pourquoi je suis figuratif” in ''Connaissance des Hommes'' in 1971.
He received the Grand Prix of the Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps in 1973 after a successful exhibit at the Galerie Minet. A retrospective of his work was mounted in
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
in 1974 at the Palais de la Méditerranée.
His last major exhibition was at the Galerie d’art de la Place Beauvau in 1980, a series of works depicting the city of Paris. His health began to fail the following year and he died on 29 June 1984. Six months later, his only son was killed in a car accident in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
.
[Duplessis, page 50.]
Examples of books illustrated by Pierre Lelong
''Une vie de camp'', preface by Henri Curtil, Presses Victor Michel, 1943.
''Les cent nouvelles'', special edition produced for the Cercle des Professeurs Bibliophiles de France, 1962.
''L’Amour'', edition prepared for Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps, 1964.
''Les Français'', edition prepared for Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps, 1966.
''La Bruyère de Septembre'', Yves Frontenac, SNPMD Publishers, 1972.
''L’Escalier de la Nuit'', Yves Frontenac, SNPMD Publishers, 1973.
''L’Art d’Aimer'', Ovid, Moulin de Vauboyen–Pierre de Tartas. 1973.
''L’Art d’Aimer'', Ovid, translation by Pirault des Chaumes, Editions Roissard, 1979.
Awards
Prix des Beaux Arts, 1945.
Prix Othon Friesz, finalist, 1952.
Prix Portier, 1955.
Prix de la Biennale de Menton, 1957.
Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, 1959.
Grand Prix des Peintres Témoins de Leur Temps, 1972.
Solo exhibitions
Galerie Maurice Deuillet, Paris, 1958.
Galerie Carlier, Paris, 1959.
Leicester Galleries
Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leiceste ...
, London, 1960.
Galerie Carlier, Paris, 1961.
Galerie Walter, New York, 1967.
Galerie Mirage, Montpellier, 1968.
Galerie Carlier, Paris, 1969.
Galerie Walter, New York, 1970.
Distelheim Galleries, Chicago, 1971.
Galerie Squarcifichi, Tokyo, 1972.
Galerie d’art de la Place Beauvau, Paris, 1972.
Galerie 65, Cannes, 1973.
Galerie d’art de la Place Beauvau, Paris, 1973.
Retrospective, Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, 1974.
Galerie d’art de la Place Beauvau, Paris, 1976.
Galerie de Noyers, Yonne, 1977.
Galerie d’art de la Place Beauvau, Paris, 1978.
Galerie Squarcifichi, Tokyo, 1979.
Galerie d’art de la Place Beauvau, Paris, 1980.
Galerie Triade, Barbizon, 1987.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lelong, Pierre Emile
1984 deaths
1908 births
Impressionist artists
20th-century French artists