Jean-Pierre Cassigneul

Biography of Jean-Pierre Cassigneul

Born in Paris on the eve of the Second World War, Jean-Pierre Cassigneul is considered the painter of "elegant women", Parisian women with milky complexions, black-rimmed eyes, a haughty head carriage and a dreamy pout. Paintings, oils, drawings, posters, tapestries, they will inhabit his work, becoming over time inseparable from his name.

Two years later, he entered the Charpentier academy in 1954 where he took classes from Jean Souverbie, then the Paris School of Fine Arts to which he was admitted in 1955. This classical training did not prevent him from moving towards a post-impressionist style, which went against the grain of the style in vogue in the 1950s and 1960s. He borrowed the colors from the Fauves' palette, the flatness from the Nabis, and perhaps he was even inspired by the simplicity of André Bauchant, giving an almost unreal scale to his portraits and views.

A style that seems out of step with his representation of mid-twentieth century society, but which, on the contrary, in the words of his friend Jean-François Josselin, relates with perfection the secret garden of his contemporaries. A touch that opened the doors of the most prestigious exhibitions beyond the French borders, even the European continent. It is indeed in the United States, Japan and Canada that Cassigneul is most appreciated. He is the ambassador and witness of the grace and elegance of the French, making him one of the most highly rated French artists across the Atlantic for several years.