Printer: Mourlot

Dimensions: 75 x 50 cm

Condition: Very good 

Frame: Oak

Description: André Cottavoz was one of the leading painters of the School of Lyon, a group of post war French artists who favoured colour, texture and direct observation over artistic manifestos and fashionable movements. His work has a remarkable physical quality, built up with a palette knife in thick layers of oil paint that give landscapes, still lifes and figures an almost sculptural presence.

This original exhibition poster accompanied Cottavoz’s 1973 exhibition at Galerie Kriegel in Paris, where his expressive style and confident handling of paint were already earning him a loyal following. The image perfectly captures the qualities that made his work so distinctive. Forms emerge through colour and texture rather than precise drawing, creating paintings that feel immediate, generous and full of life.

Whether working on canvas or paper, Cottavoz remained committed to painting the world around him in his own unmistakable way. This poster offers a wonderful introduction to an artist whose richly textured work remains one of the most individual voices in post-war French painting.

Artist: The French painter, engraver and ceramicist André Cottavoz (1922-2012) trained at the Lyon Fine Arts School in 1939 and exhibited in many group international exhibitions after the Second World War. He was a maverick and founder member of a group of artist 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, Chagall and Pignon. Picasso said of Cottavoz’ 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 exhibited at the Prix National de Peinture and Biennale de Menton. The Japanese art dealer Kiyoshi Tamenaga exhibited many of his works at his gallery in Tokyo. By the early Sixties, Cottavoz was working in the Mourlot Studios in Paris to create many black and white, and coloured, lithographs. He signed an exclusive contract with the Galerie Kriegel, Paris in 1964 which hosted exhibitions until 1979.