Workshop Gilbert THEVENOT (1921-2018)

GILBERT THEVENOT (1921 - 2018)

Gilbert Thévenot was born on October 4, 1921 in Auxerre (Yonne) where he spent his childhood. His family moved to Dreux when he was about ten years old. During a jostle, he lost the motor skills of his right arm. The medical profession advised him to draw to test and consolidate his wrist. From this re-education was born a passion for drawing and his artistic vocation. At the age of fifteen, he decided to join the French Navy as an apprentice and spent three years in the army.

At the end of this military period, he settled in Paris and spent his free time in the family home in Champs-sur-Yonne. It was at this time that he decided to embrace an artistic career. His first works were inspired by the wooded and riverside landscapes of Burgundy. The difficult period of the Occupation pushed the artist to join the services of the Paris City Hall to supervise the moving of works to different museums. He was thus in contact with many works of art and admired in particular a work that marked him The Lunch of Bonnard. Soon, the situation of the country pushed him to escape to flee from the STO and escape the occupying forces. He took refuge in Champs-sur-Yonne where he remained hidden until the liberation. He took advantage of this period to continue his studies of nature and to work on light in painting. At the end of the war, the artist returned to the studio of Othon Friesz at the Grande Chaumière, who passed on to him his taste for the fauve energy of the line, the color and the strong contrasts.

In November 1950, Gilbert Thévenot exhibited at the Club Saint-Germain gallery alongside Shedlin and Audebès. The press does not hide its enthusiasm and the Nouvelles Littéraires (14/12/1950) underline in G. Thevenot: "The sensuality with which it describes each curve, the precision with which it poses each tone, in a word this artisanal taste of the work well done, unceasingly resumed, and which tends to the perfection belong to another generation. It is rare to discover them in a young artist.

In the years 1952-53, Thevenot joined the artistic group Rencontres, formed on the initiative of the Society of New Artists and French Writers Associated and the magazine Rencontres. An exhibition is organized under the auspices of the group from May 21 to June 1, 1954 at the Galerie Cini, (47 rue de Seine). Thevenot regularly participated in the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants and was selected for the Othon Friesz prize. He also exhibited at the Bellechasse Gallery.

From the 1960s, installed in the new studio of his property in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Gilbert Thevenot initiated new fields of artistic exploration. In particular, he made a series of preparatory drawings as part of a new research focused on the interaction between shapes and colors, a research that he continued throughout the 1970s. He worked on new geometric and abstract subjects as well as new techniques, both inspired by free abstraction. He also integrated and reworked the Pointillist heritage in large format non-figurative works. From a technical point of view, Thevenot experiments with a thicker paste, the material takes on volume thanks to the addition of sand in its preparation and a technique of superimposing pictorial layers playing on the relief of the material. He also adopts a gesture, which, beyond any explanation, appeals to the emotions.

Thevenot, who liked to define himself as a craftsman, in the noble sense of the term, continues his experiments and research on the balance between volume, colors and forms. The interest he showed towards the end of his life in monochrome representations, testifies to a desire to go to the essential, without ever dispersing. The collection of large format canvases with geometric and abstract subjects is related to this period of the artist's work.

Gilbert Thévenot was born on October 4, 1921 in Auxerre (Yonne) where he spent his childhood. His family moved to Dreux when he was ten years old. During a stampede, he loses the motor skills of his right arm. The medical profession advises him to draw to test and consolidate his wrist. From this rehabilitation was born a passion for drawing and its artistic vocation. At fifteen, he decided to enlist as a ship's boy in the French Navy and spent three years in the service.

At the end of this military period, he moved to Paris and spent his free time in the family home in Champs-sur-Yonne. It was at this time that he decided to pursue an artistic career. His first works were then inspired by the wooded landscapes or the banks of the Burgundy river. The difficult period of the occupation pushes the artist to engage with the services of the City of Paris to supervise the movement of the works in different museums. He is therefore in contact with many works of art and admires in particular a work that marks him Le Déjeuner de Bonnard. Soon, the situation of the country pushes him to escape to flee the conscription of force at the STO and escape the occupier. He took refuge in Champs-sur-Yonne where he remained hidden until the liberation. He took advantage of this period to continue his studies from nature and to work with light in painting. At the end of the war, the artist returned to the studio of Othon Friesz at the Grande Chaumière, who transmitted to him his taste for the wild energy of line, color and strong contrasts.

In November 1950, Gilbert Thévenot exhibited at the Club Saint-Germai