Pierre De Belay Brittany Audierne

Pierre Savigny de Belay or Pierre de Belay, born December 12, 1890 in the rue des Boucheries, in Quimper in France, died June 30, 1947 in Ostend in Belgium, is a French painter From his real name Eugène Pierre Savigny (or Pierre Savigny de Belay from the name of one of his ancestors from the maternal branch), Pierre de Belay discovered his vocation as a painter in 1900. His father, Azéma Savigny, wine merchant, amateur artist who painted many landscapes on the banks of the Odet or the activity of the port of Quimper, and of Carmelle Bodet, who do not oppose the ambitions of their son. The only advice he accepts is that of his father. In 1903, Pierre Savigny de Belay already painted many portraits of Quimper notables. He was spotted by Max Jacob, Quimper poet and great friend of the family. Already, Max Jacob predicted that he would become a famous artist. He studied without a teacher, worked fifteen hours a day, made sketches of fishermen in port, noted episodes in the daily life of sailors. Max Jacob teaches him to lead, to control his nature, but not to disobey him. “Drawing, he repeated to him, begins not with the copying of natural forms, but with the interpretation of these forms with a view to creation. There is no creation where there is only servile copying. ". Entrance to the Bateau-Lavoir, c. 1910 In 1905, Max Jacob and Pierre Savigny de Belay moved to Paris. They live in Montmartre, at the Bateau-Lavoir, where, among other things, Picasso's studio is located. Pierre de Belay met many artists there, Juan Gris, Appolinaire and Salmon, whose portraits he painted, and immersed himself in a veritable bubbling of ideas. Despite this effervescence, Pierre Savigny de Belay kept his independence vis-à-vis the artistic currents of that time.