Édouard Pignon (12 February 1905 – 14 May 1993) was a French painter of the

School of Paris The School of 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 of Paris as a centre o ...

Biography

Pignon was born into the family of a miner involved in the workers' movement. From a young age he was inspired by the paintings of

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...

and himself painted whenever he was not working. In 1925, Pignon, moved to Paris where he first worked at Citroën and later at the Renault factory and also became a member of the CGTU. In 1932, he participated in the creation and activities of the Indélicats group which published an anarchist magazine. In 1933 he joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

while he was already a member of Association des écrivains et artistes révolutionnaires, where he met painters such as

Jean Hélion Jean Hélion (April 21, 1904October 27, 1987) was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter. He w ...

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, André Marchand, Maurice Estève and Vieira da Silva as well as writers such as

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

. In 1935, Pignon was able to devote himself more to painting. From 1936 until the war, he was editor of the weekly ''

Regards ''Regards'' (also known as ''Regards Magazine'' or ''Revue Regards'', ''trans'': "Views") is a monthly French Communist news magazine published in Paris, France. History and profile Created in 1932 as a Communist title, ''Regards'' is primari ...

''. His first solo exhibition was held in 1939 in Paris. After the German invasion of France, Pignon was mobilized in to the army. He returned to Paris in 1940 and immediately became a member of the Resistance. His house becomes a place of meeting for artists and resistance members such as Aragon and

Elsa Triolet Ella Yuryevna Kagan (; – 16 June 1970), known as Elsa Triolet (), was a Russian-French writer and translator. Biography Ella Yuryevna Kagan was born into a Jewish family of Yuri Alexandrovich Kagan, a lawyer, and Yelena Youlevna Berman, ...

who stayed there for some period. Alongside artists like Jean Bazaine, Esteve, Le Moal and Alfred Manessier, Pignon was one of "Twenty painters of French tradition", who exhibits in Paris at the Braun Galery in 1941 in order to resist the Nazi theory of " degenerate art". With Édouard Goerg and André Fougeron, in 1943 he clandestinely founded the Front National des Arts, a branch of the National Front. After the war, he collaborated with Jean Vilar and designed the first Avignon festivals. Pignon also came in to conflict with Communist Party for not complying with socialist realism and continued to create figurative artistic works. In 1947 he married the French communist critic Hélène Parmelin. In 1951, at the invitation of his friend

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, Pignon went to the Fournas workshop in Vallauris. In 1956, after the Soviet invasion of Hungary, he was one of ten intellectuals of the PCF alongside who wrote a letter to the party leadership expressing their dismay and condemning the suppression of the Hungarian uprising. In 1960, he was one of the signatories of the

Manifesto of the 121 The Manifesto of the 121 (), was an open letter signed by 121 intellectuals and published on 6 September 1960 in the magazine ''Vérité-Liberté''. It called on the French government, then headed by the Gaullist Michel Debré, and public opi ...

. Throughout the 1960s and 70s his worka have been exhibited in Metz, New York, Amsterdam, Lucerne, Milan, Udine, Padua, Venice, Trieste, Bucharest, Antibes. In 1980, almost all of the artist's works from national museums were collected in an exhibition at the Pompidou Center. In 1981, the French Post Office issued a stamp with a reproduction of one of his paintings, “Red Nudes.” In 1985, an exhibition of his works was displayed on three floors of the Grand Palais in Paris. From 1986, Pinion began to lose his sight. Édouard Pignon who had been suffering from progressive blindness, died in 1993 in La Couture-Boussey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pignon, Èdourd 1905 births 1993 deaths French ceramists 20th-century French lithographers 20th-century French painters French set decorators Communist members of the French Resistance School of Paris Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery