The French painter, engraver and ceramicist André Cottavoz (1922–2012) trained at the Lyon Fine Arts School in 1939 and exhibited in many international group exhibitions after the Second World War. He was a maverick and founder member of a group of artists from his alma mater who painted without ‘isms’ – free from Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, etc., choosing to paint ‘in the light’ and without any recognisable technique. Cottavoz moved to the French Riviera and met Picasso, l and Pignon. Picasso said of Cottavoz’s work: ‘I don’t know if it is good or bad, but that interests me!’

Cottavoz went on to win the prestigious Fénéon Prize in 1953 and to exhibit at the Prix National de Peinture and the Biennale de Menton. The Japanese art dealer Kiyoshi Tamenaga exhibited many of his works at his Tokyo gallery. By the early Sixties, Cottavoz was working at Atelier Mourlot in Paris to create many black-and-white and coloured lithographs. He signed an exclusive contract with the Galerie Kriegel in Paris in 1964, which hosted exhibitions until 1979.