Gustave Singier (11 February 1909, in

Warneton Warneton (; nl, Waasten) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Bounding communes and places *Warneton, Belgium (part of Comines-Warneton) * Comines, east *Quesnoy-sur-Deûle ...

– 5 May 1984, in Paris) was a Belgian

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 ...

painter active in France as part of the new

Paris School 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 ...

Lyrical Abstraction Lyrical abstraction is either of two related but distinct trends in Post-war Modernist painting: ''European Abstraction Lyrique'' born in Paris, the French art critic Jean José Marchand being credited with coining its name in 1947, considered ...

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 ...

Early life

He spent his childhood in German-occupied Belgium, then moved to France in 1919. From the age of 14, he started to paint. In 1923 he enrolled as a student at the Boulle school, attending until 1926. From 1927, he worked as a draughtsman, designing interior architecture and furniture until 1936. 1936 could be considered to be a turning point in Singier's career as an artist: he met the painter Charles Walch who encouraged him as a painter, put him in contact with artistic circles and who began to exhibit Singier's work at numerous Parisian Salons from 1936.

World War II

In 1940, with World War II now underway, Singier was mobilized in the Belgian army and sent to Bagnols-on-Ceze after the German invasion of Belgium. From 1941 to 1944, Singier worked in the workshop of his cabinet maker father. In 1941, Singier joined a group of young artists who showed their work in the exhibition 'Vingt Peintres de tradition francaise' (Twenty Painters of the French Tradition) at the Braun Gallery, an exhibition in defiance of the Nazi military occupation.

Career

In 1945 he was one of the founding members of the

. In common with many other painters of his generation, after the allied liberation of Western Europe, Singier discovered Kandinsky, Klee, Mondrian and - through them - abstract art. In 1947 Singier was naturalized as a French citizen. In 1949, he had his first solo exhibition at the Billiet-Caputo gallery. From 1951 to 1954, Singier taught at the Ranson Academy, and from 1967 to 1978 at the Paris School of Art. Singier died on 5 May 1984. He is buried in Paris, in the

Montparnasse Cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...

Early life

World War II

Career

See also