Michel Rodde (1913-2009):

Michel RODDE (1913-2009): "Towards Dieulefit" Drome; Oil on canvas signed lower right, countersigned and located on the back Dieulefit, 25 x 50 cm. Michel Rodde is a French figurative painter and lithographer from the School of Paris, born April 27, 1913 in La Grand-Combe (Gard) and died February 20, 2009 in Aiguèze (Gard). Born in La Grand-Combe and counting among his ancestors Carle and Horace Vernet1, Michel Rodde, after obtaining the baccalaureate in philosophy, followed legal studies at the Faculty of Law of Paris2. Incorporated in 1936 into the 22nd Alpine Chasseurs Battalion (2nd Company), Michel Rodde joined the garrison of Nice3 for two years, then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1938 where he had the poet Saint-John Perse1 as a colleague. He returned to the 22nd BCA in September 1939 when, mobilized with the rank of sergeant, he took part in the battle of the Ailette (1940), then that of the Marne3. It was then during the Occupation that he discovered painting. In 1946, Michel Rodde returned to the diplomatic administration while attending the studio of Édouard Georges Mac-Avoy at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris2. In 1956, he resigned from the administration to succeed Robert Humblot as drawing professor at the School of Arts and Crafts, then, in 1965, Jean Aujame at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Michel Rodde's travels are linked both to his exhibitions abroad and to his pictorial research: New York (1960 and 1964), Egypt (1974 and 1979), Japan (in 1989 where he stayed in Itsuku- shima, Kyoto, Nara and Tokyo), Norway (where in June 1989 he was particularly interested in the Lofoten Islands). He lived shared between his apartment on rue Lecourbe in Paris and, from 1968, Montségur-sur-Lauzon (Drôme). Michel Rodde died on February 20, 2009 and is buried in the cemetery of Pont-Saint-Esprit4. Public collections Algiers, National Museum of Fine Arts. France Aix-en-Provence, Granet museum. Avignon, Calvet museum: Landscape of the Alpilles, oil on canvas. Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Albert-André museum: Le Sautadet, oil on canvas11. Besançon, museum of fine arts and archeology. Bourg-lès-Valence, agricultural school of Valentin: fresco1. Dinard, La Poste: fresco. Paris, Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris: lithograph. Poitiers, Sainte-Croix museum. Pontivy, town hall: Low tide in Brittany, oil on canvas (Françoise Jégourel bequest, 2014). Rodez, Denys-Puech Fine Arts Museum. Saint-Claude, Abbey Museum: Portrait of George Besson, circa 1960, oil on canvas12. Saint-Nazaire, museum: Landscape with seagull, oil on canvas8. This painting, which hung in the officers' dining room on the deck of the liner France, was bought in 2008 by the town of Saint-Nazaire13. Troyes, Saint-Pouange agricultural school, fresco in the amphitheater. Vincennes, southern school group. Private collections Pont-Saint-Esprit, oil on canvas, Jacqueline Kennedy collection14. The Seine, quai de Grenelle, oil on canvas, George and Adèle Besson collection15. Cliff of Étretat, watercolour, Jef Friboulet collection, Yport16. (Wikipedia)