I love how a picture can bring back so many memories. Experiences and feelings long forgotten flow back as if it were just yesterday. My evening check of the latest on Pinterest found the picture above. There was something familiar about the artist's style so I clicked on the link to see more. The picture was a small portion of a larger lithograph by French artist Jean-Paul Cassigneul. The name was very familiar to me from when I sold graphic art in the 1980s-early 90s (Silkscreens, lithographs, art posters, and prints) out of a room I rented in a friend's used book shop in Midtown Atlanta. I never sold much, but I could buy wholesale! In those days, with a tax number, you could buy art one piece at a time at wholesale prices. Shortly after I got my tax number the art world changed, you had to subscribe to buy the entire collection to get a wholesale price. That stopped my buying! But for a brief period I was happy adding to my growing collection and attending the Art Expo in New York City with another art dealer friend of mine. It was a glorified hobby, but one I had a grand time with. Most of my graphic art collection is gone, sold as I found Ebay and changed to a love of Victorian / vintage oils. The theme of my art stays the same, women in gardens, with flowers, and, as a dog hoarder, I now have rooms filled with vintage dog paintings. The poster below is the one I remember most. I don't know if I bought it or just dreamed of it. It was one of my favorite pieces by the artist.
About the artist: (Jean-Pierre Cassigneul, French 1935 - )
Following in the tradition of the early 20th century French artists, Bonnard and Vuillard, Jean-Pierre Cassigneul creates beautiful compositions with great appeal. Born in Paris in 1935, he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts
in Paris and held his first one-man exhibition there at the age of 17. Since then, his work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe, Japan and the United States, including shows at the Galerie Tivey Faucon and Galerie Bellechase, Paris; Gallery Tamenaga, Japan and Wally Fihdlay Gallery, New York. Cassigneul has also illustrated several books, including LE TOUR DE MALHEUR by Joseph Kessel.
Jean-Pierre Cassigneul went on to exhibit in various group exhibitions, including the Salon d' Automne in Paris (of which he was member), the Salon de la Jeune Peinture, and Meubles Tabeaux (Furniture-Paintings), an exhibition held in 1977 at the Centre Beau Bourg, where he showed a piece of occasional furniture in the Louis XIV manner, the doors and sides of, which were decorated with female figures.
He exhibited solo as of 1952, on a regular basis in France but also in New York, and Tokyo. Cassigneul is known for his charming and extremely popular Van Dongen-influenced paintings of women in floral hats, complete with frequent allusions to other aspects of the Années Folles. From RoGallery.
Enjoy the images below!
A dog in this poster, if I had only known I'd become dog crazy, this would have been a purchase!
Jean-Pierre Cassigneul was only seventeen when his first exhibition opened at the Lucy Krogh Gallery in 1952. It was also the year of his first poster, a plain unillustrated bill. Since then, he has produced around fifty posters which enlighten us on his artistic approach and the way his work has developed over the years. Most of the posters are lithographs, although a few were printed in offset on account of their strong advertising bias. From the artist's official website. Note the website is in French, but in the top right corner a little flag translates to English when you click on it.
