Guy-Rachel Grataloup

Guy-Rachel Grataloup is a French artist, painter and plastics technician, born with Nantua in 1935.

Biography

Guy-Rachel Grataloup lived part of his childhood during the second world war. Before the beginning of the conflict, it remained with its family with Nantua. His/her father, Jean, are mobilized and the family takes then the road of Dijon.

Already impassioned by the drawing, it will respectively have in him the memory of the workshop of his parents printer and dressmaker. The outlines, the falls of fabrics or papers will mark the young boy. He will keep the terrible bombardments especially at the head.

After traditional studies, it ends up finding a station in a newspaper then in an architect. It spends its spare time in the museums, the exposures and finally is registered with Beautiful arts of Lyon in 1953. It will spend three years there.

At 21 years, the young man carries out his national service in Germany and will benefit from his stay for to attend the museums of Berlin. It will be marked at this period by the painters avant-gardists who expose to it.

In 1958, it takes part in an exposure of the group of the association of the Lyons students, organized by Alain Crombecque (future director of the Festival of Avignon and the Festival of Fall in Paris), in which Hugueto and Christo appear.

It then will rent a workshop and will start to paint in a more serious way.

Its will to succeed will lead it to integrate the National university of Cachan in 1960.

Professor with the college of the Room with Saint-Germain in Bush hammer, it will meet the historian Jose Pierre, a close relation of André Breton.

With the National university of Cachan, it meets Claude Chevreuil and Jules Romain for which it creates the decorations of Volpone.

Admitted in 1964, to the 3Ecole Nationale Sup3erieure of the Art schools, it enters the workshop of Chastel, where are artists like Viallat, Buraglio, Poli, Rouan, Kermarec, Anne and Patrick Poirier.

Prize winner of the Institute of France for Put it Vélasquez with Madrid in 1965, it will remain there of 1966 to 1967. He discovers the wonders of Prado and of Escurial, traverses Castille and Andalusia, with the type-setter Antoine Tisné and meets the painters Millares, Villaba, Pablo Serano and the Rodrigo type-setters and Luis of Pablo.

1966-1969 Of return to Paris in 1967, it has one workshop in the International City of Arts.

It there finds Anne and Patrick Poirier and meets Malaval, Vélickovic and Serge Gainsbourg.

It obtains the second Grand Prix of painting of the Prix of Rome in 1967 and leaves in 1968 for the Medicis Villa directed by Balthus.

On vacation with Stockolm, it meets Jean-Luc Godard which presents its films leaflets on the events of May 1968.

In 1969 it exposes a homage to Claude Monet, the “Nymphea”, presenting its first frictions.

In 1970, it leaves the City of Arts for a workshop in the 5th district in Paris.

It takes part in the exposure “Plastics and Contemporary art”.

Incorporated in 1970, it is named Directeur of Studies with the E.N.S. of Cachan, until 1996.

It creates with its pupils of the E.N.S. the group “Vision Creation” which exposes in 1971 to the Museum of Modern art of Céret.

It binds friendship with Alice Rewald and Michael Peppiat who make known to him Francis Bacon and Michel Leiris. From 1972, it is interested in the theosophy and Védanta.

In 1970, the Marquet gallery organizes its first personal exposure to Paris.

In 1977 its first monumental work: a mosaic for the Laic Mission of Valbonne.

Exposures with Roland Topor to the Marquet gallery in 1978, with Joel Kermarrec and Olivier Debré with the Hérodiade gallery with Saint-Etienne.

Guy-Rachel Grataloup will carry out many monumental works between 1980 and 1985:

In 1980: Mosaic, Mosque, Sophia Antipolis.
In 1982: Stained glasses, tapestries and ceramics on the topic of the “Tree of Life”, Church Midsummer's Day Baptist, Ajaccio.
In 1984: Stained glass, community Jew, Saint-Hilaire Game preserve, stained glass of the new Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris, mosaic of the hall for the operational Division of Telecommunications of Angers.
In 1988: Mosaic of 840 m2 “three Trees”, Defense.

In 1987, it exposes to the gallery Lavignes-Bastille. It will be selected with eight artists representing France with the exposure “the Painters of Europe” organized to Strasbourg. The duality plan-matter continues in its work as from 1988.

In 1989, it settles in a house-workshop conceived by the architect Denis Sloan.

In 1990, a very important exposure will be organized by Jacqueline Moussion in her gallery of the Marsh.

It will carry out the mosaic for the station of the R.E.R. Porte from Clichy and the Bellefontaine station for the subway of Toulouse in 1992.

The same year, the Small estate of the Lilacs presents a series of gouaches, watercolours and paintings of small size on the topic “Paradises erotic” with texts of Michel Tournier, Marc Gaillard, Jean-Pierre Saccani, Michel Chaillou, Frederic Beigbeder…

In 1993, it exposes to the gallery of the Center.

In 1994, as from this time the presence of the figure becomes more obvious in its work. This same year, Jean-Louis Ferrier devotes a very important analysis of the work of Grataloup “the research of the impliés worlds” to the Ramsay editions.

From 1998, it integrates in its fabrics of metals chechmates or polished which reflect the reality of a daily newspaper. At the time of the exposure to the gallery Enrico Navarra, which occurred Montaigne in Paris, publication of a new monograph with a text of Michel Tournier to the Ramsay editions.

It carries out “Gardens and women flowers”, with the monochromic dotted figures. It adds to it silk flowers which create intermediate reflections on metals.

In 2002, a great exposure is organized to the Saint-Louis Vault of Salpétrière in Paris. Ninety works are exposed around paintings “Massabielle”.

In 2003 the town of Lyon accommodates two exposures; one with the Vault of the Trinity in the framework of the Bayer patronage, the other with the gallery “Sun on the Place”. A hundred fabrics are exposed there.

Grataloup is defined then as “a new Symbolist” in the line of the painters whom he admires, Puvis de Chavannes, Odilon Redon, Paul Gauguin, Munch, Klimt.

In September 2003, following the exposure of the Vault of the Trinity, the association of High Bugey, animated by a team of voluntary decides to honor the painter in his birthplace with Nantua.

A decision is made to create a foundation around the work of Grataloup. An support group organizes itself around Jacques Rigaud, President of Admical, Jacques Julliard of Nouvel Observateur, the lawyer Paul Lombard, the writer Michel Tournier and of many personalities and industrialists anxious to support this project.

June 2005, it exposes its work “Spring” to the “Drier with Skins” with Chevreuse where it has its workshop. The press hello its work.

August 2005 July, an exposure is organized to “Leather working”, place of Contemporary art of the town of Nantua. The painter joins again with his city, thus illustrating the matter of Jacques Rigaud: “It is not works without roots (…). The mountains, the fir trees, water, resulting from its imaginary of painter find their natural elements then”.

November 2005 - January 2006 a great exposure “Grataloup, a new Symbolist”, is organized to Leverkusen close to Cologne. Hundred fifty fabrics are exposed around the “Tent of the Prophet”, sculpture/object of great dimension, posed on a fixed sand desert. Miguel Sieler, President of Bayer France, gives her support for this demonstration.

Summer a 2006 new exposure is organized to the Leather working of Nantua around the set of themes “the Road of the Fir trees”. Like the previous year, this one meets a sharp success.

November 2007 With the support of the international bank Dexia Bill, preparation of one exposure to the Gallery Independence in Luxembourg as of the catalog of the exposure.

See too

Internal bonds

List of the works of art of Defense

External bonds

Official site

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