Gaston Sébire (August 18, 1920 - 2001) was a French painterBell, Quentin. of seascapes, landscapes,

still lifes A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

and flowers.

Early life

Sébire was born in Saint-Samson, Calvados, and grew up in Bretteville-sur-Odon. He began to paint around eighteen years old. He studied at the Maitrise Sainte Evode in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

Career

Sébire joined the Post Office, working at night and painting during the day. In 1951 Sébire moved to Paris, and one year later held his first exhibition in the city at the Galerie Visconti. In 1953, the Marquis of Cuevas asked him to design the costumes and scenery of ''L’Ange gris'', a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

based on orchestrations of

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

's ''

Suite bergamasque ''Suite bergamasque'' (List of compositions by Claude Debussy by Lesure number, L. 75) () is a piano suite (music), suite by Claude Debussy. He began composing it around 1890, at the age of 28, but significantly revised it just before its 1905 ...

'' by

André Caplet André Caplet (23 November 1878 – 22 April 1925) was a French composer and conductor of classical music. He was a friend of Claude Debussy and completed the orchestration of several of Debussy's compositions as well as arrangements of severa ...

and Gustave Cloëz. During that same year Sébire won both the Prix de la Critique and the Prix Casa Valasquez, the latter giving him the opportunity to spend a year and a half working in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Winning the Greenshields Foundation Prize in 1957, allowed him to continue this study for another two years. Sébire settled in Normandy. His works from this period show influence from the Neo-Realist movement. Sébire participated in many group exhibitions in Paris including: the Salon of Independants beginning in 1956, the Salon of Tuileres and the Comparisons Salon beginning in 1962, and the Salon des Artistes Francais beginning in 1964. The artist was also included in exhibitions of the Paris School at the Galerie Charpentie in Paris from 1953 to 1958 and in 1961, as well as the Biennale de Jeunes at the

Pavillon de Marsan The Pavillon de Marsan or Marsan Pavilion was built in the 1660s as the northern end of the Tuileries Palace in Paris, and reconstructed in the 1870s after the Tuileries burned down at the end of the Paris Commune. Following the completion of th ...

in 1957. His work appeared in many international shows in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with Lorjou and Clave, as well as in

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Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In 1966 Sébire won the Grand Prix of the Biennale of Trouville. Two years later, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the

Salon des Artistes Francais The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

, as well as the Medal of Honour of the Salon de la Marine. In 1975, Sébire became the official painter of the Marine National, or

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, and established himself as a

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

. Also in 1975, he was made Chevalier dans l’Order National du Merite. A

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

of the artist's figurative paintings was presented at the Musee de la Marine in Paris. The Amateurs Rouennais d’Art published a literary work including his biography and more than 200 of his pieces. After a sixty-year career, Sébire died in 2001 in France. IN 2015, a collection of Sébire's work was exhibited at the Métropol'Art."Métropol’Art à l’espace Guillaume-le-Conquérant à Bois-Guillaume"
29 April 2015 ''Paris Normandie''

Solo exhibitions

* Galerie Gosselin, Rouen (1944) * Galerie Visconti, Paris (1952) * Galerie Charpentier, Paris (1956) * Galerie Combes, Clermont-Ferrand (1961) * Galerie Drouant, Paris (1962, 1965, 1968) * Musee de Rouen (1964) * Wally Findlay Gallery,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

(1965) * Wally Findlay Gallery, Paris (1965,1976,1992) * Cultural Center, Le Mesnis-Esnard * Retrospective, Museum of Fine Art, Rouen (1986) * Ville de Montfermeil (1991)

Public collections

* Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris * The Chazen Museum of Art at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

* The Joe and Emily Low Art Gallery of

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Castle Museum and Art Gallery * Rouen Museum of Fine Arts

Bibliography

# Osenat, Pierre: ‘Sébire’ in coll. Éloges, Les Heures Claires, Paris. # Osenat, Pierre: Gaston Sébire, exhibition leaflet, Palais des arts et de la culture, Brest, 1973. # Sébire: Mers et Jardins, exhibition leaflet, Wally Findlay Gallery, Paris, 1983. # Harambourg, Lydia: L'École de Paris 1945–1965. Dictionnaire des peintres, Ides et Calendes, Neuchâtel, 1993.

References

External links

Gaston SebireGaston Sebire Bio
- Findlay Galleries * https://web.archive.org/web/20090126161754/http://www.musees-haute-normandie.fr/fiche.php3?lang=en&id_article=1394 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sebire, Gaston 1920 births 2001 deaths French landscape painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters