About the artist:

Bernard Rancillac is a visual artist, painter and French sculptor born August 29, 1931 in Paris . He lives and works in Paris. Bernard was born Rancillac Hallé Street in Paris , the eldest of five brothers of whom, Paul , become the sculptor Jean -Jules Chasse- Pot. After a childhood in Algeria until 1937 , he spent the war in the paternal house Yssingeaux , Haute -Loire , and religious studies at college. After the war , he returned to Bourg -la-Reine and completed his studies at the Lycée Lakanal . In 1949, under family pressure , he prepares hearted professorship of drawing workshop Met Penninghen where he met Bernard Aubertin . In 1953, he completed his military service in the Moroccan infantry in Meknes . A local bookstore , The Human Comedy , exhibited his first drawings. Back in France , he set up his first workshop in Bourg -la-Reine in 1955 , while exercising the profession of teacher. In 1958, a contract with Dr. Audouin, collector , allows him to leave teaching . From 1959 to 1962 , Rancillac studied engraving at Atelier 17 SW Hayter . Meanwhile, in 1961 , he won the prize for painting at the Paris Biennale . He married Marie- Claude Teuma and moved Carmelite Street . In 1963, around the Fels gallery, forms the nucleus of the new figuration. The following year, with Gassiot - Talabot , Herve Telemaque and Foldes , it is co-organizer of the "daily Mythologies " exhibit . That year saw the birth of her daughter Nathalie 's birthday which run every year a small canvas . In 1966 , he created his unique piece of furniture , the chair elephant , presented as part of the exhibition " Focus on the contemporary seat" at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris in May 19681 . In 1967, Rancillac makes a stay in Havana with the Fair in May In May 1968 he produced silkscreen posters to the popular Workshop Gallery . The first retrospective of his work was held in 1969 in Vitry -sur- Seine and the museums of Saint- Etienne and Brest. He moved , in 1970, in a workshop in the Bastille , and the following year moved to Lock Boran -sur -Oise where he worked for ten years . He is a lecturer at the University of Paris I. In 1982, the Rancillac undertakes in his new workshop Arcueil " broken images". Between 1982 and 1987 , he created stage sets for productions of Michel Puig theater Ulis , where he held various roles repeatedly : Téramène in Racine's Phèdre , Trissotin in The Learned Ladies by Molière, in Basile 's barber of Seville by Rossini and Beaumarchais . In 1988, he traveled to China, where he lectures in the main schools of fine arts. " All political " events " impress me . I discovered when I decided to do the paintings for the year 1966. I realized then that I was a political animal , not a gossip columnist ! At the root of all artistic creation , it takes emotion. Very often , in my opinion, it is political in nature , even when I paint Mickey, jazz musicians , cars and movie stars. Journalist and photographer are attending the event and faster communication . But the painter has time for him, time to dig into the flesh of the time. It's called history. " - Bernard Rancillac , interviewed in Paris in 1991. " Rancillac work in painting ; he has overcome quickly , subservience to the photographic document and recreate the form by the transposition of space and photographic lighting equivalent pictorial terms. Chromaticism [...] is divided by contrasting with sharp edges plans. Their arrangement in the spatial organization of the canvas always obeys a strong sense of rhythm and cadences that many would envy practitioners geometric abstraction. This attitude is the stylistic representation of Bernard Rancillac near cold hard edge abstraction . She opposes in all cases, the figurations 1950 which eluded concerns in this old-fashioned and lacking expression of a lost sense of rusticity. The art of Rancillac is thus placed at the confluence of the history of art and history , and he will be always recognized the merit of having stubbornly uncompromising in the rejection of conformity pictorial wanted say life through art and reintroduce art into life by the media more accessible to those who are the poorest with the art . " - Bernard Ceysson , Rancillac , from the catalog of the Museum of Art and Industry of Saint -Etienne, 1971. Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 1956 Gallery Sun in the head 1963: Rancillac , Wheel Gallery , Paris , France , Catalogue text Raoul- Jean Moulin and Jean- Jacques Leveque 1965: Bernard Rancillac : Serie Walt Disney , gallery Mathias Fels, Paris . Catalogue: Gerald Gassiot text - Talabot 1967: The year 66 Mommaton gallery , Paris , Catalogue text Pierre Bourdieu 1969 Pornography , Galerie Daniel Templon , Paris ; Alfieri Gallery , Venice 1970: Retrospective , Museum of Saint -Étienne , and Brest, Catalogue text Bernard Ceysson 1971: Wind, National Centre for Contemporary Art , Paris , Catalogue text Gilbert Mury 1972: Der Wind, Kunsthalle Hamburg (catalog : Werner Hofmann ) ; Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal , Germany; Aktion Gallery , Bern, Switzerland 1974: Jazz , Galerie Mathias Fels, Paris , France and HM Gallery , Brussels 1975: Jazz and political Museum of Fine Arts , Nancy 1977 : The Year Vitamins , Krief Gallery , Paris , catalog : Anne Tronche text . Colored paper, Jacqueline Storme Gallery , Lille, Catalogue text Gérard Durozoi . History Museum of Tourcoing, Tourcoing, and House of Culture , Amiens, Catalogue text Michel Troche 1980: In memory of ... , ARC , modern art in the city of Paris , museum catalog : text Gérald Gassiot - Talabot 1985 : 20 Years of Painting , French Institute of Athens , Athens. Images exploded , Arts Building , Paris , Catalogue text Bernard Noël 1988 : 25 years of provocative images , gallery Michel Vidal, Paris 1989 : Cinémonde gallery 1900-2000 , Paris , Catalogue text Viviane Forrester 1991 1931-61-91 , gallery Thierry Salvador , Paris 1992 : South-South Gallery Vincent, Reunion Island 1994 East-West , Abbey of Saint -André , center for contemporary art, Meymac catalog : Paul Ardenne text . Round midnight , gallery Mathias Fels 1996 Far West Villa Tamaris Pacha , La Seyne -sur -Mer. The painting lesson , Noroît Cultural Centre , Arras, Catalogue text by Alain Jouffroy 1997 : Jazz, Hervé Lourdel gallery , Paris 1998 : Jazz , Fort Napoleon, La Seyne -sur -Mer 2000 : Algeria , University Institute of Teacher Training , Lyon. Rancillac , Palais des Congrès , Paris 2001 Selected Works , gallery Sonia Zannettacci , Geneva 2003 : Retrospective Museum of Modern Art of Saint- Etienne 2011: Duet with Jean -Jules -Pot Hunting , gallery Anne -Marie and Roland Pallade2 , Lyon Group exhibitions 1958: Exhibition of Young Painting, Modern Art Museum of the city of Paris 1960: Exhibition of new realities , Paris 1961: 2nd biennial Paris , Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris ( Rancillac receives the prize for painting ) 1962 : " To show " gallery Creuse (cat. Jean- Jacques Leveque ) 1964: "daily Mythologies " Modern Art of the City of Paris Museum ( Rancillac is co-organizer of the exhibition ) . Salon de Mai , Paris . " Love " Krugier gallery , Geneva 1965: " Narrative Figuration in Contemporary Art " gallery gallery Creuse Europe , Paris 1966: "The World in question ' , ARC , Modern Art of the City of Paris Museum (cat. Gerald Gassiot - Talabot ) 1967: " cartoon figuration and narrative ," Museum of Decorative Arts , Paris 1968: " Painting in France 1900-1967 " , National Gallery , London, Washington , New York , Boston , Chicago, San Francisco. "European Painters today," Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris . Jewish Museum , New York , Museum of Washington , Chicago, Atlanta 1969: " Living Art " Fondation Maeght , Saint- Paul -de- Vence 1970: " Kunst und Politik " Badischer Kunstverein , Karlsruhe, Wuppertal museum , museum of Frankfurt 1975: " Paris -New York ", National Museum of Modern Art Georges Pompidou , Paris 1977: " daily Mythologies II ," Modern Art of the City of Paris Museum , Paris 1983 : " 1960 " , Museum of Saint -Étienne 1989 " Art in France ," National Museum of Taiwan, Taipei. "The Auto: Mobile Art " gallery Sonia Zannettacci , Geneva 1990: "New Figuration " Schwarz Gallery , Los Angeles 1992 " Figurations critical" , ELAC , Lyon (cat. Pierre Gaudibert ) 1994 : " Beyond the Walls " Museum of Fine Arts , Clermont- Ferrand 1995: " Full Frame " gallery Sonia Zannettacci , Geneva 1997: " Pop 60 " cultural center Bellem , Portugal ( cat. Marco Livingstone) 1999: " I ​​love Pop " Cloister of Bramante , Rome (cat. Lorand Haegyi ) . " Pop Impressions " Moma , New York 2000: " The Furniture maker of the twentieth century" , Furniture, exhibition of the Porte de Versailles, Paris . " Narrative Figuration " Villa Tamaris Pacha , La Seyne -sur -Mer ; Bergen Art Museum, Bergen , Denmark; Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik , Iceland ( on this occasion, publication of Narrative Figuration by Jean- Louis Pradel ) 2001: " The Pop Years " MNAM , Centre Georges Pompidou , Paris 2002 gallery Serge Laurent , Paris 2005: " Narrative Figuration in public collections, 1964-1977 " , Orleans, Dole 2008: " Narrative Figuration , 1960-1972 " , National Galleries of the Grand Palais, Paris . " Narrative Figuration " gallery Anne -Marie and Roland Pallade3, Lyon