Jean René Bazaine
Encyclopedia
Jean René Bazaine was a French painter
, designer of stained glass
windows, and writer. He was the great great grandson of the English Court portraitist Sir George Hayter
.
at the Académie Julian
and with Paul Landowski
after a brief passage at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
. At the same time he continued his study of philosophy and literature at the Sorbonne
in Paris attaining certificats in art history and philosophy (1921-1925). Bergson's L'évolution créatrice was his main inspiration at the time. With Baltrušaitis
he participated at the first "Groupe d'Histoire de l'art" led by Emile Mâle
and Henri Focillon
.
These studies would culminate in an influential text Notes sur la peinture d'aujourd'hui (1948), aimed at going beyond the boundaries -quite dogmatic at the time- of abstract and figurative. It supplied the theoretical base for his creative criticism that found its practical use when he was invited, in 1952, by the Carnegie Foundation
to sit as the European member of the jury for the Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting in company with the American painter William Baziotes
.
Bazaine did not pursue his initiation into sculpture, though he became one of the great friends of Calder
, Henri Laurens
and of Giacometti, his neighbour at his atelier in the Paris Zone -Porte de Vanves.
painter. A fire in his workshop in 1945 destroyed almost his entire production, leaving only scant reference to his important series of watercolors of the 1930s that prefigured the experimental feel of his mature work.( see however: SKIRA 1990, ref below ).
His work was first shown in company with Jean Fautrier, Edouard Goerg and Marcel Gromaire
(Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris 1930). At his first individual show (Galerie Van Leer, Paris 1932) he was favourably receivedby Pierre Bonnard
who seemed to recognize a progressive tendency rooted in his own sense of colour (Post-Impressionism
developing into Abstract Impressionism
). In 1937 he first bonded in friendship with Jacques Villon
.
Demobilized from the army in 1941 Bazaine, in the face of the prejudice over Degenerate Art
, organized an avant-garde picture show (Galerie Braun Paris 1941) under the heading Vingt Jeunes Peintres de Tradition Française: Estève, Lapique, Pignon were but a few of the artists involved. 1942 was to be the year of his definitive turn towards the abstract (though he would never refer to himself as an abstract painter
(Bernier 1955). In 1949/1950 he had his first major one man show
at the Galerie Maeght
, who remained his art dealer
thenceforth. From then on it was a steady progress of major exhibitions: Bern, Hanover, Zürich, Oslo... 1987 a retrospective exhibition in Galerie Maeght, 1988 a retrospective of his drawings in the Musée Matisse and finally in 1990 the Exposition Bazaine in the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais
, Paris., which was accompanied by the reissue of his major texts on painting in art theory as Le temps de la peinture (Paris, Aubier 1990).
However, his richest contacts with contemporary master-painters were to be within the specialized field of stained glass.
and Georges Braque
who were also designing glass for church windows. In 1943 he made three windows for the church of Nôtre Dame de Toute Grace at Assy
on the subject of saints related to music, at the glazier's workshop of Marguerite Huré who showed him the tricks of the trade. With those works he was to figure in the company of Georges Rouault
(stained glass
), Henri Matisse
(mural
), Fernand Léger
(mosaic
), Pierre Bonnard
(painting
), Marc Chagall
(ceramics
), and others...(see: http://fabrice.blanc.cc/ballades/notre_dame/notre_dame.html http://foto.telenet.be/7033935954)
A magnificent catylist in the debate on modern art and religion at the time was Father Couturier
, who had so great an impact on Matisse
and his designs for the Vence Chapel
, on Dominique de Menil
and the Rothko Chapel
. It was Father Couturier who brought Bazaine into the project for the Church of the Sacred Heart at Audincourt (1951), where this time Fernand Léger was to design the stained glass (executed by Jean Barillet)http://www.uni-koeln.de/ew-fak/Bildtheologie/diathek/bj2.001.jpg; to Bazaine fell the mosaic for the outside wall. Later (1954) he also completed the glazed wall of the baptistery
.(see: Cherche Midi, 1997).
The Eglise de Sacré-Cœur d'Audincourt, built in part with the savings of the industrial workers who composed the parish -and who chose the avowed communist Fernand Léger as their creative (and extremely versatile) main interpreter- stands as one of the great monuments of twentieth-century sacred art (see: Mills, 1956). The experience left Bazaine with a fond memory of Leger:
More mosaics were to follow: UNESCO Paris 1960, Skissernes Museum Lund 1965, Faculté des Sciences de l'Université de Metz 1977, Hôtel de Ville Martigues 1981, Salle Clemenceau, Palais du Luxembourg and Métro Cluny-La Sorbonne Paris 1985-1987, Mjällby Konstgard Halmstad 1988-1989 as well as some great series of stained glass windows.
Since his early travels to Brittany
Bazaine had fallen in love with the sea and his series of windows in Finistère
are among his best inspired: Penguilly Castle, two windows 1973; Locronan, six windows for the Ty ar Zonj chapel 1977; Penmarc'h, six windows for the Madeleine Chapel 1979-1981.
Among Bazaine's best known stained glass work is a set of seven windows inspired by the sacrament
s of the Catholic church, in the ambulatory
of the ancient church of Saint-Séverin
in Paris 1964-1969; executed by B. Alain, who also signed for the Brittany windows (with E. Bonte at Penmarc'h).
There were other windows as well as monumental works; tapestries for the Palais de Justice Lille 1969, for the Ecole Navale at Lanvéoc-Poulmic (Finistère) 1973.
Chartres stained glass, Bazaine, together with Alfred Manessier
founded the Association pour la Défense des Vitraux de France (the "Association for the Defense of France's Stained Glass"). In 1984-1988 he was master of the works for executing the new windows of the cathedral of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
, for which he assembled an impressive company of painters and master-glaziers. In 1980 he had been created Commandeur des Arts et Lettres
.
1993-1995 saw a traveling exhibition of his monumental works. In 1996 a great mosaic (15m x 12m) was executed for the new church at Concarneau
; there were glazed windows for the Chapelle St Dominique - St Matthieu in Paris, a series of works on paper for the Aix Festival and a retrospective at Fribourg
.
In 1997, when Jean Bazaine, couleurs et mots - entretiens avec Paul Ricœur et Henri Maldiney appeared, summarizing his career, his monumental mosaic L'Envol de la Liberté on the Mur de la Liberté (Liberty Wall) at Saint-Dié-des-Vosges was being completed.
, Abdellatif Laabi
, Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
, Eugène Guillevic.
Three of them stand out as lifelong friends and soulmates, André Frénaud (whose work has been translated by Keith Bosley
), Jean Tardieu
, and his own son Jean-Baptiste de Seynes who took his name from his mother Catherine de Seynes-Bazaine.
Bazaine illustrated Raymond Queneau
's monograph
André Frénaud for Le Divan Editeur, 1960 (150 ex. with an original lithograph
, thirty examples hors series with an added lithograph.
Bazaine died at the age of 96 at the end of a day's work on a series of collages, a notable example (1995) of which is printed in Jean Bazaine, coleurs et mots (1997) bearing the title L'étape dans la clairière after a cycle of poems by Frénaud (1966).
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, designer of stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
windows, and writer. He was the great great grandson of the English Court portraitist Sir George Hayter
George Hayter
Sir George Hayter was a notable English painter, specialising in portraits and large works involving in some cases several hundred individual portraits...
.
Studies
Bazaine studied sculptureSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
at the Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
and with Paul Landowski
Paul Landowski
Paul Maximilien Landowski , a French monument sculptor of Polish ancestry. He was born in Paris to Polish refugees of the January Uprising, and died in Boulogne-Billancourt....
after a brief passage at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
. At the same time he continued his study of philosophy and literature at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris attaining certificats in art history and philosophy (1921-1925). Bergson's L'évolution créatrice was his main inspiration at the time. With Baltrušaitis
Jurgis Baltrušaitis (son)
Jurgis Baltrušaitis was a Lithuanian art historian, art critic and a founder of comparative art research. He was the son of the poet and diplomat Jurgis Baltrušaitis. Most of his works were written in French, although he always stressed his Lithuanian origin...
he participated at the first "Groupe d'Histoire de l'art" led by Emile Mâle
Émile Mâle
Émile Mâle was a French art historian, one of the first to study medieval, mostly sacral French art and the influence of eastern European iconography thereon. He was a member of the Académie Française, and a director of the Académie de France à Rome....
and Henri Focillon
Henri Focillon
Henri Focillon was a French art historian.Director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. Professor of Art History at the University of Lyon, at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, at the Sorbonne, at the Collège de France and then in the United States, where he went into exile and taught at Yale...
.
These studies would culminate in an influential text Notes sur la peinture d'aujourd'hui (1948), aimed at going beyond the boundaries -quite dogmatic at the time- of abstract and figurative. It supplied the theoretical base for his creative criticism that found its practical use when he was invited, in 1952, by the Carnegie Foundation
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
to sit as the European member of the jury for the Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting in company with the American painter William Baziotes
William Baziotes
William Baziotes was an American painter influenced by Surrealism and was a contributor to Abstract Expressionism.-Life and career:...
.
Bazaine did not pursue his initiation into sculpture, though he became one of the great friends of Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
, Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.-Early life and education:Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor...
and of Giacometti, his neighbour at his atelier in the Paris Zone -Porte de Vanves.
Painting
Bazaine was to develop into a significant Modern School of ParisSchool of Paris
School of Paris refers to two distinct groups of artists — a group of medieval manuscript illuminators, and a group of non-French artists working in Paris before World War I...
painter. A fire in his workshop in 1945 destroyed almost his entire production, leaving only scant reference to his important series of watercolors of the 1930s that prefigured the experimental feel of his mature work.( see however: SKIRA 1990, ref below ).
His work was first shown in company with Jean Fautrier, Edouard Goerg and Marcel Gromaire
Marcel Gromaire
Marcel Gromaire was a French painter. He painted many works on social subjects, and is often associated with Social Realism.-Early life:...
(Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris 1930). At his first individual show (Galerie Van Leer, Paris 1932) he was favourably receivedby Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.-Biography:...
who seemed to recognize a progressive tendency rooted in his own sense of colour (Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
developing into Abstract Impressionism
Abstract impressionism
Abstract Impressionism is a type of abstract painting where small brushstrokes build and structure large paintings...
). In 1937 he first bonded in friendship with Jacques Villon
Jacques Villon
Jacques Villon was a French cubist painter and printmaker.-Early life:Born Gaston Emile Duchamp in Damville, Eure, in the Haute-Normandie region of France, he came from a prosperous and artistically inclined family...
.
Demobilized from the army in 1941 Bazaine, in the face of the prejudice over Degenerate Art
Degenerate art
Degenerate art is the English translation of the German entartete Kunst, a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German or Jewish Bolshevist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were...
, organized an avant-garde picture show (Galerie Braun Paris 1941) under the heading Vingt Jeunes Peintres de Tradition Française: Estève, Lapique, Pignon were but a few of the artists involved. 1942 was to be the year of his definitive turn towards the abstract (though he would never refer to himself as an abstract painter
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
(Bernier 1955). In 1949/1950 he had his first major one man show
One man show
The term one-man show often referred to comedian, who would stand on stage and entertain an audience. With the advent of feminism, words and phrases such as one-woman show and comedienne have entered the modern-day lexicon....
at the Galerie Maeght
Galerie Maeght
The Galerie Maeght is a gallery of modern art, in Cannes and Paris, France, and Barcelona, Spain.The gallery was founded in 1936 in Cannes. The Paris gallery was started in 1946 by Aimé Maeght. The artists exhibited are mainly from France and Spain....
, who remained his art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
thenceforth. From then on it was a steady progress of major exhibitions: Bern, Hanover, Zürich, Oslo... 1987 a retrospective exhibition in Galerie Maeght, 1988 a retrospective of his drawings in the Musée Matisse and finally in 1990 the Exposition Bazaine in the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais
Grand Palais
This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish Wikipedia.The Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, commonly known as the Grand Palais , is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, Paris., which was accompanied by the reissue of his major texts on painting in art theory as Le temps de la peinture (Paris, Aubier 1990).
However, his richest contacts with contemporary master-painters were to be within the specialized field of stained glass.
Stained glass/mosaic
In 1937 at the workshop of the glazier Jean Hébert-Stevens, who worked out Bazaine's first stained glass Les Instruments de la Passion for a private chapel, he came in contact with Georges RouaultGeorges Rouault
Georges Henri Rouault[p] was a French Fauvist and Expressionist painter, and printmaker in lithography and etching.-Childhood and education:Rouault was born in Paris into a poor family...
and Georges Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
who were also designing glass for church windows. In 1943 he made three windows for the church of Nôtre Dame de Toute Grace at Assy
Plateau d'Assy
Plateau d'Assy is a region in the French Alps, in Haute-Savoie department, France, near the border of Italy. The plateau, at an altitude of 3,450 feet in the foothills of Mont Blanc, is noted for its beautiful scenery and healthful climate. Primarily an agricultural district, the plateau is...
on the subject of saints related to music, at the glazier's workshop of Marguerite Huré who showed him the tricks of the trade. With those works he was to figure in the company of Georges Rouault
Georges Rouault
Georges Henri Rouault[p] was a French Fauvist and Expressionist painter, and printmaker in lithography and etching.-Childhood and education:Rouault was born in Paris into a poor family...
(stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
), Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
(mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
), Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
(mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
), Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.-Biography:...
(painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
), Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
(ceramics
Ceramics (art)
In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as...
), and others...(see: http://fabrice.blanc.cc/ballades/notre_dame/notre_dame.html http://foto.telenet.be/7033935954)
A magnificent catylist in the debate on modern art and religion at the time was Father Couturier
Marie-Alain Couturier
Père Marie-Alain Couturier, known as Father Couturier was a Dominican friar, designer of stained glass windows, famous for his modern inspiration of Sacred art.-Life:...
, who had so great an impact on Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
and his designs for the Vence Chapel
Chapelle du Saint-Marie du Rosaire
The Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence , often referred to as the Matisse Chapel or the Vence Chapel, is a small chapel built for Dominican nuns in the town of Vence on the French Riviera. It was built and decorated between 1949 and 1951 under a plan devised by Henri Matisse...
, on Dominique de Menil
Dominique de Menil
Dominique de Menil was a French-American art collector, philanthropist, founder of the Menil Collection and an heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune...
and the Rothko Chapel
Rothko Chapel
The Rothko Chapel is a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas founded by John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art. On its walls are fourteen black but color hued paintings by Mark Rothko...
. It was Father Couturier who brought Bazaine into the project for the Church of the Sacred Heart at Audincourt (1951), where this time Fernand Léger was to design the stained glass (executed by Jean Barillet)http://www.uni-koeln.de/ew-fak/Bildtheologie/diathek/bj2.001.jpg; to Bazaine fell the mosaic for the outside wall. Later (1954) he also completed the glazed wall of the baptistery
Baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...
.(see: Cherche Midi, 1997).
The Eglise de Sacré-Cœur d'Audincourt, built in part with the savings of the industrial workers who composed the parish -and who chose the avowed communist Fernand Léger as their creative (and extremely versatile) main interpreter- stands as one of the great monuments of twentieth-century sacred art (see: Mills, 1956). The experience left Bazaine with a fond memory of Leger:
- It was my first frontwall mosaic (some 75m²). Afterwards I made seven more. Leger, meanwhile, was creating inside over the complete ambulatory a superb monumental suite in glass brick. He was very outspoken, with words that carried the day -So, my old friend- he said to me in front of my mosaic - do you always work in melodies ? This he accompanied with a slap on the shoulder fit to tumble an ox. Of Picasso, who he did not like he said to me: -You who are a writer why don't you tell them he is only small fry. (...de la petite mésure).
- Jean Bazaine in Jean Bazaine couleurs et mots -le cherche midi éditeur, 1997
More mosaics were to follow: UNESCO Paris 1960, Skissernes Museum Lund 1965, Faculté des Sciences de l'Université de Metz 1977, Hôtel de Ville Martigues 1981, Salle Clemenceau, Palais du Luxembourg and Métro Cluny-La Sorbonne Paris 1985-1987, Mjällby Konstgard Halmstad 1988-1989 as well as some great series of stained glass windows.
Since his early travels to Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
Bazaine had fallen in love with the sea and his series of windows in Finistère
Finistère
Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...
are among his best inspired: Penguilly Castle, two windows 1973; Locronan, six windows for the Ty ar Zonj chapel 1977; Penmarc'h, six windows for the Madeleine Chapel 1979-1981.
Among Bazaine's best known stained glass work is a set of seven windows inspired by the sacrament
Sacrament
A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
s of the Catholic church, in the ambulatory
Ambulatory
The ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....
of the ancient church of Saint-Séverin
Saint-Séverin (Paris)
The Church of Saint-Séverin is a Roman Catholic church in the Latin Quarter of Paris, located on the lively tourist street Rue Saint-Séverin...
in Paris 1964-1969; executed by B. Alain, who also signed for the Brittany windows (with E. Bonte at Penmarc'h).
There were other windows as well as monumental works; tapestries for the Palais de Justice Lille 1969, for the Ecole Navale at Lanvéoc-Poulmic (Finistère) 1973.
Chartres stained glass, Bazaine, together with Alfred Manessier
Alfred Manessier
Alfred Manessier was a non-figurative French painter, stained glass artist, and tapestry designer, part of the new Paris School and the Salon de Mai.-Biography:...
founded the Association pour la Défense des Vitraux de France (the "Association for the Defense of France's Stained Glass"). In 1984-1988 he was master of the works for executing the new windows of the cathedral of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Saint-Dié Cathedral
Saint-Dié Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral, and national monument of France, located in the town of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in Lorraine.It is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Dié, created in 1777....
, for which he assembled an impressive company of painters and master-glaziers. In 1980 he had been created Commandeur des Arts et Lettres
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
.
1993-1995 saw a traveling exhibition of his monumental works. In 1996 a great mosaic (15m x 12m) was executed for the new church at Concarneau
Concarneau
Concarneau is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.The town has two distinct areas: the modern town on the mainland and the medieval Ville Close, a walled town on a long island in the centre of the harbour. Historically, the old town was a centre of shipbuilding...
; there were glazed windows for the Chapelle St Dominique - St Matthieu in Paris, a series of works on paper for the Aix Festival and a retrospective at Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
.
In 1997, when Jean Bazaine, couleurs et mots - entretiens avec Paul Ricœur et Henri Maldiney appeared, summarizing his career, his monumental mosaic L'Envol de la Liberté on the Mur de la Liberté (Liberty Wall) at Saint-Dié-des-Vosges was being completed.
Poetry
Throughout his career Bazaine kept contact with many poets, some twenty of whom he saluted in Jean Bazaine, couleurs et mots (1997) including Paul ÉluardPaul Éluard
Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...
, Abdellatif Laabi
Abdellatif Laabi
Abdellatif Laâbi is a Moroccan poet, born in 1942 in Fes, Morocco.Laâbi, then teaching French, founded with other poets the artistic journal Souffles, an important literary review in 1966...
, Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
Pierre Lecomte du Noüy
Pierre Lecomte du Noüy was a French biophysicist and philosopher. He probably is best-remembered by scientists for his work on the surface tension, and other properties, of liquids.- Life and work :...
, Eugène Guillevic.
Three of them stand out as lifelong friends and soulmates, André Frénaud (whose work has been translated by Keith Bosley
Keith Bosley
Keith Bosley is a British poet and language expert.Bosley was born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire...
), Jean Tardieu
Jean Tardieu
Jean Tardieu was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author. He earned a degree in literature and worked for a publishing house. He published several poetry collections in the 1930s before starting to write for the stage...
, and his own son Jean-Baptiste de Seynes who took his name from his mother Catherine de Seynes-Bazaine.
Bazaine illustrated Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
's monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
André Frénaud for Le Divan Editeur, 1960 (150 ex. with an original lithograph
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, thirty examples hors series with an added lithograph.
Bazaine died at the age of 96 at the end of a day's work on a series of collages, a notable example (1995) of which is printed in Jean Bazaine, coleurs et mots (1997) bearing the title L'étape dans la clairière after a cycle of poems by Frénaud (1966).
External links
- Saint Séverin windows
- Chapelle St Dominique-St Matthieu Paris
- Adamson: The Art criticism of Jean Bazaine 1934-1944
- Obituary
- Unesco obituary (french)
- Centre Pompidou, 110 works by Bazaine (enter his name in recherche rapide)
- Sacré Cœur d'Audincourt (French)
- Audincourt via Helsinki (super!)
- L'Envol de la Liberté (French)
- Couturier/Bazaine in context (images, little German text)
- Time Magazine (1958) Modern Glass for Medieval Churches
- Sacré Coeur Audincourt Baptistery windows high-resolution pictures