Oil On Canvas By Raymond Guerrier (1920-2002) Provençal Landscape Signed Dated 1960

Raymond Guerrier is a painter from the School of Paris born on January 3, 1920 in Paris. He lived since 1955 in Eygalières where he died on April 5, 2002.
The oldest listed painting by Raymond Guerrier dates from 19341. Self-taught, the artist places in his early youth, made for many of the visits to museums, the shaping of the austere temperament and the refusal of the picturesque that would characterize him. As an artist of rigor, he thus asserts: “the great elders above all taught me the primordial importance of severe composition”2.

Raymond Guerrier said he was marked by the exhibition Georges Braque, the workshops, which he visited at the Galerie Maeght in 19473. At the very beginning of the 1950s, while painting, he exercised by necessity the profession of photoengraver4. Receiving the Prix de la Jeune Peinture from the Galerie Drouant-David for his canvas Poissons et masque in 19535, in 1954 he was a member of the jury alongside Paul Rebeyrolle, Bernard Buffet and André Minaux, three painters with whom he was then in contact. It is common to position oneself, through gloomy works, through a harshness of post-war pessimism, in the wake of Francis Gruber6,5.

It was in 1955 that he discovered Provence7 and that, "of a solitary and taciturn character, he preferred to move away from Paris and live in Eygalières"8 where his neighbor was Jacques Winsberg and where he befriended the Provençal poet Charles Galtier. In 1961, he married Francesca, daughter of the painter Francis Montanier (1895-1974)9, herself a painter, but also a ceramist. In 1962 their daughter Juliette was born, in 1964 their son Francis and in 1966 their daughter Jeanne.

The landscape that surrounds him in Eygalières, as well as his travels which offer him to see Spain, Sardinia, Italy, Greece, Morocco, Jordan, Israel, bring Raymond Guerrier, from 1970, to lighten his palette (remaining nonetheless in "austere bare tones dominated by ochres" observes Gérald Schurr), then to gradually slide towards abstraction, the culmination of "a figuration reduced to its essence, a painting of large forms where only the essential rhythms are retained.

Pierre Basset, in his approach to a body of work that spans nearly seven decades, confirms what Raymond Guerrier's demanding quest was: "search for the essential, refusal of the anecdote, importance of reality and its depth, role -key of matter »10.

Bibliophilia (engraved work)

Joseph d'Arbaud: The Beast of Vaccarès, Editions les Bibliophiles de France, Marseille, 1958, 27 original lithographs by Raymond Guerrier on large Rives vellum paper, edition: 200 numbered copies.

Personal exhibitions

Galerie Stiébel, Paris, 1952, 1954, 1954, 1956, 1957, 195811.
Drouant-David Gallery, Paris, 1953.
Redfern Gallery, London, 1953, 195511.
Hammer Gallery, New York, 195711.
Bost Gallery, Valence (Drôme), 195711.
La Calade Gallery, Avignon, 195811.
Simone Badinter Gallery, Paris, 195911.
Galerie Motte, Geneva, 195811, 1966.
Herve Gallery, Paris, 1960, 1962, 1964.
Warrior retrospective, Musée de l'Athénée, Geneva, 19624.
Jouvene Gallery, Marseilles, 1964, 1967.
Galleria Arte Moderno, Caracas, 1964.
Malaval Gallery, Lyon, 1966, 1972, 1977, 1980, 1983..
Thoth Gallery, Avignon, 1967.
Tamara Pfeiffer Gallery, Brussels, 1967, 1975, 1977.
Galerie de Paris, Paris, March 196812, 1970, 1971
Grand Mazel Gallery, Geneva, 1969.
River Gallery, Bordeaux, 1970, 1978.
Le Havre Museum of Fine Arts, 1971.
One hundred and fifteen paintings by Raymond Guerrier, Museum of Art and History of Saint-Denis, March-May 1972.
Municipal cultural center of Aubagne, 19734.
Helias Gallery, Paris, 1973.
Galerie Ducastel, Louis-XIV theater in place Crillon, Avignon, 1973, 1974, 1976, July-August 1984 (Raymond Guerrier - Abandoning appearances without losing reality)13.
Warrior retrospective, cellar of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape castle, 19744.
Town Hall, Arcueil, 1974.
Spetier Room, Salon-de-Provence, 1976.
Palace of arts and culture, Brest, 1977.
Suillerot Gallery, Paris, 1977.
Cultural Center of Chateauvallon, Toulon, 1977.
Gallery of Three Abalones, Aix-en-Provence, 1978.
Aigalier Hall, Martigues, 1978.
Jean Houdremont Cultural Center, La Courneuve, 1979.
House of Culture, Ajaccio, 1979.
Saint-Guillaume Gallery, Paris, 1979.
Olivier Theater, Istres, 1980.
Gallery L'escapade, Geneva, 1980.
Contrasts Gallery, Limoges, 1981.
French Institute in Cologne, 1981.
Town Hall, La Seyne-sur-Mer, 1981.
Lower Hall Gallery, Martigues, 1982.
Frank Ricci Gallery, Avignon, 1982.
Local action for the plastic arts of Longèves (Vendée), 1982.
Réattu Museum, Arles, 1984.
Chapel of the Grand Convent, Cavaillon, 1985, 19884.
Hélène Trintignant Gallery, Montpellier, 1986.
Milling Center, Mont-de-Marsan, 1986.
Flaran Abbey, Valence-sur-Baïse, 1987.
Cloister of the Cordeliers, Tarascon, 1987.
Alpilles Museum, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 1988.
Berlioz Gallery, Sausset-le
Carnot Gallery, Poitiers.
Senate Orangery, Luxembourg Palace, Paris, 1989.
Benedictine Palace, Fécamp, May-June 199014.
Florence Basset Gallery, Moulin de la Grande Bastide, Flassans-sur-Issole, March-April 199615, 20026.
Paul-Valéry Museum, Sète, July-September 1996.
Sabine Vazieux Gallery, Paris, 2007, 200916.
Gallery 22, Coustellet, 2013.
Retrospective - Hundredth anniversary of the birth of Raymond Guerrier, Estrine Museum, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, September-December 202017.
Collective exhibitions[modifier | edit code]
Salon des Indépendants, Paris, 1947, 1949, 19508,18, from 1953 to 195711.
Salon for under-thirties, Paris, 194811.
Autumn Salon, Paris, 1951-195711.
Salon in the rue de Seine, Paris, 1952.
Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Paris, 1953, 1954, 195511.
Salon of sacred art, Paris, 1953, 1954, 1955, 195811.
Salon of painters who witnessed their time, Palais Galliera, Paris, 1954, 1956, 195711.
Paris School, Charpentier Gallery, Paris, 1954, 1956, 195711, 1960, 1961.
Portraits by thirty young painters, Galerie Visconti, Paris, June 1955.
Biennial of Menton, 1955, 195711.
Turin Biennial, 195511, 1957.
Face of childhood: Raymond Guerrier, François Heaulmé, Richard Bellias, Jean Commère, Jean Pollet, Philippe Cara Costea, Galerie Simone Badinier, Paris, 1956.
Salon Comparisons, Paris, 1956-195911.
Biennial of young painting and young sculpture, Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, 1956-195911.
World Festival of Youth and Students, Moscow, July-August 1957.
Biennial of Young Contemporary Painting, Bruges, 1958.
Salon des Tuileries, Paris, 1958, 195911.
Bernard Buffet, Bernard Conte, Marcel Cramoysan, Jef Friboulet, Raymond Guerrier, Galerie Malaval, Lyon, 1964.
3rd Salon d'Angers, Raymond Guerrier and André Brasilier guests of honor, 1966.
Provence and painters of today, Granet Museum, Aix-en-Provence, 1967.
One hundred Provençal artists, Cantini Museum, Marseille, 1971.
Art and the city - Festival of painting-music-mime-poetry - Constantin Andréou, Antonio Guansé, Serge Labégorre, Jacques Lagrange, Robert Lapoujade, Jean-Jacques Morvan..., church of Saint-Émilion, September 1978.
21 large canvases by Raymond Guerrier - 27 sculptures by Constantin Andréou, Orangery of the Château de Meudon, November 199514.


Group exhibition:

Philippe Cara Costea, Simone Dat, Raymond Guerrier, François Heaulmé, Michel Thompson, Claude Venard, Florence Basset Gallery, Flassans-sur-Issole, September-November 1996.
Paintings from the 1950s-60s - Eduardo Arroyo, Henri Déchanet, Jacques Doucet, Raymond Guerrier, Alexandre Garbell... La Capitale Galerie, November 2008 - January 2009.
Views: a century of views on the Alpilles - Auguste Chabaud, Albert Gleizes, Raymond Guerrier, André Marchand, Mario Prassinos, Maurice-Élie Sarthou, René Seyssaud, Jacques Winsberg, Estrine Museum, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, March-May 201519.
Twenty years of passion: Raymond Guerrier, Roger Lersy, François Heaulmé, Bernard Lorjou, Yvonne Mottet, Bernard Buffet, André Minaux..., Galerie Florence Basset, Flassans-sur-Issole, June-August 2015.
Provence, land of encounters between artists and writers, Musée Regards de Provence, Marseille, October 2015 - March 2016.
The rebels of modern art - Paris, the 1950s, Mendjisky-Schools of Paris Museum, Paris, October-December 201620,21.
Young Painting - Paul Aïzpiri, Jean-Pierre Alaux, Bernard Buffet, Michel Ciry, Jean Commère, Bernard Gantner, Raymond Guerrier, Jean Jansem, André Minaux, Marcel Mouly, Michel Patrix, Paul Rebeyrolle..., Baron-Martin Museum, Gray (Haute-Saône), July-October 2017.

Theather decorations

Génousie, play by René de Obaldia, with Jean Rochefort directed by Roger Mollien, Théâtre Récamier, Paris, 1960. Sets and costumes by Raymond Guerrier22.
Quotes[edit | edit code]
Sayings of Raymond Guerrier
"I haven't finished taking the teachings of the great elders, provided I don't paint like them... I try to stay very close to nature, through all the transpositions from stone, or water, or the fruit, or the flesh… right down to the tube: I'm trying! - Raymond Guerrier23
Critical reception

“Canvases that possess this plenitude that only belongs to works where the spirit and the hand merge in the same action. -Jean Chabanon24
“Warrior admires Rembrandt. "But, he said, if I listen to the lesson of the great elders, I don't want to paint like them". To place things in a climate of mystery, Rembrandt used chiaroscuro. Warrior can achieve the same effect by other means. In fact, the impression that emerges from his paintings is rather an impression of suffocation obtained by the suppression of atmospheric perspective, the use of muted colors and the importance of matter. This is made visible by scratches traced in full paste by means of a nail. - Knowledge of the arts25
“His painting, like him, is secretive, a little rough in the bark, and does not reveal itself at first approach... The tones of his palette ignore the colors of the prism, of an anonymous laboratory purity; however, their gravity shakes the sensibility, corresponds moreover to the confused feeling of concern proper to our time. - Jean Dalevèze26
"The painter settled in Provence, in Eygalières, in 1955: the landscape that surrounds him decanted his vision: a figuration reduced to its essence, austere bare tones dominated by ochres and still lifes that form the best of his work. Guerrier retains only the large forms, the essential rhythms. - Gerald Schurr14
“Discreet and modest, Guerrier refuses confidences, politely referring to his paintings. His painting is in his image, an austere art, mirror of an era when we do not always see life in color, canvases dominated by grays and blacks, often very thick, sometimes straight out of the tube. During the 1950s as thereafter, human representation was most often neglected... The forms, of massive simplicity, asserted themselves more and more refined, geometric. Sometimes, brighter tones, ochres, oranges illuminate the composition, often imposing formats with masterful force. Subsequently, the painter's work, which always solicits the real, illustrates the opacity of the border between abstraction and figuration and the retrospective futility of past quarrels. Evidenced by his still lifes and landscapes refined to the extreme where only a few lines still evoke the subject. Blacks and whites still dominate, but the palette opens up to white, creating contrasts that further accentuate the geometry of the composition. - Eric Mercier

Awards and Recognition
Prize for Young Painting 1953.
Knight of Arts and Letters 1957.

Public collections
Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.
France
Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi, The rabbit, oil on canvas 100x81cm11.
Réattu Museum, Arles.
Calais Museum of Fine Arts, Still life with horse skull, oil on canvas 97x146cm11.
André-Malraux Museum of Modern Art, Le Havre.
Sacred Art Center of Lille
Cantini Museum, Marseille, The olive trees, oil on canvas 60x92cm11.
Museum of art and history of Meudon.
Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, The ponies, oil on canvas 162x130cm, 1964.11.
National Museum of Modern Art, Paris.
Pau Museum of Fine Arts, Bullfighting, oil on canvas 195x130cm11.
Sainte-Croix Museum, Poitiers, The beach of Croix-de-Vie, oil on canvas 89x116cm11.
National Contemporary Art Fund, Puteaux, including deposits11:
Place Lucien Herr, oil on canvas 89x116cm, Embassy of France in the United Kingdom, London.
Landscape, oil on canvas 73x92cm, National Assembly, Paris.
The circus, oil on canvas, 130x162cm, sub-prefecture of Saint-Jean-d'Angély.
Denys-Puech Museum, Rodez, Still life with duck, oil on canvas, 196011.
Museum of art and history of Saint-Denis.
Sacred Art Center of Lille.
French Embassy in London.
National Museum of History and Art, Luxembourg.
Flag of Switzerland
Pully Art Museum (Switzerland)27.
United States
St. Louis Art Museum (Missouri)25.
japan flag japan
Tokyo Museum of Modern Art.
Flag of Venezuela Venezuela
Caracas Museum of Fine Arts.
Private collections
Serge Reggiani.
Jean and Gisèle Boissieu28.
Jeff Friboulet29.
References :

Raymond Guerrier: The artist's grandmother, 1934, painting quoted by Jean-Pierre Delarge in Dictionary of modern and contemporary plastic arts (Cf. Bibliography above).
Comments from an interview with Raymond Guerrier reported by Lydia Harambourg.
Lydia Harambourg, The School of Paris, 1945-1965, Dictionary of painters.
Go back above in: a b c d and e Jean-Pierre Delarge, Raymond Guerrier, in Dictionary of modern and contemporary plastic arts [archive]
Go back higher in: a b and c Éric Mercier, Years 50 - The young painting, volume I: The figurative alternation, ArtAcatos, 2010.
Back up in: a and b Lydia Harambourg: Raymond Guerrier in La Gazette de 'Hôtel Drouot, 2002, (Cf. Bibliography above).Back up in: a and b Gérald Schurr, Le Guidargus de la peinture, Les Editions de l'Amateur, 1993.
Go back above in: a and b Bénézit dictionary (Cf. Bibliography above).
On Francis Montanier, Prix de Rome 1924, see Dictionary Bénézit, Gründ 1999, volume 9 pages 775 and 776.
Pierre Basset: The rebels of modern art - Young painting, Paris 1948-1958, Un certain regard Editions, 2009.
Éric Mercier, 1950s - Young Painting, volume II: Panorama of Young Painting, ArtAcatos, 2010, “Raymond Guerrier” pages 194-197.
Raymond Guerrier, “interview about his exhibition at the Paris gallery”, program Arts d’Aujourd’hui, France Culture, March 16, 1968.
Bruno Jaubert, “Les expositions”, La Gazette de l’Hôtel Drouot, n°29, July-August 1984, page 14.
Gérald Schurr, The guidargus of painting, Editions de l'amateur, 1993.
Marc Hérissé, “Raymond Guerrier, retrospective”, La Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot, n°12 of March 22, 1996; Clo Caldairou, “Raymond Guerrier, a space of light and solitude”, Nice-matin, April 28, 1996.
Presentation of the Raymond Guerrier exhibition, Galerie Savine Vazieux, January-February 2009 [archive] Source: the Private Museum.
Musée Estrine, Raymond Guerrier would have been a hundred years old, 2020 [archive]
Collective work, A century of modern art - The history of the Salon des Indépendants, Denoël, 1984.
Estrince Museum, Views: a century of views on the Alpilles, press kit, 2015
Mendjisky Museum, The rebels of modern art, presentation of the exhibition [archive]
Mendjisjy Museum, The rebels of modern art, press kit [archive]
Libretto of the play Genousie [archive]
Raymond Guerrier, quoted by Jean-Paul Crespelle, Painters witnesses of their time Sport, Achille Weber/Hachette, 1957, pages 124-125.
Jean Chabanon, “Raymond Guerrier”, magazine Le Peintre, n°75, October 15, 1953.
↑ Go back above in: a and b The gallery of contemporary painters - Raymond Guerrier, Knowledge of the arts, n°56, October 15, 1956.
↑ Jean Dalevèze, Raymond Guerrier, Editions of the Museum of Art and History of Saint-Denis, 1972.
↑ Pully Art Museum, Funds and collection [archive]
↑ Marcel Maréchal, The Jean and Gisèle Boissieu collection [archive]
↑ Chalot et Associés, Fécamp, Jef Friboulet collection and estate catalog, July 3, 2021.
Appendices
Bibliography
Christian Stiébel, My Warrior Friend, Editions de la Galerie Stiébel, 1954.
"The gallery of contemporary painters - Raymond Guerrier", Knowledge of the arts, n°56, October 15, 1956, pages 90-91.
Jean-Paul Crespelle, “Raymond Guerrier” The Painters Witnesses of their Time, sport, Achille Weber/Hachette 1957, pages 124 and 125.
Raymond Nacenta, School of Paris - The painters and the artistic climate of Paris since 1960, Oldbourne Press, London, 1960.
René Huyghe of the French Academy and Jean Rudel, Art and the modern world, Larousse, 1970, pages 256, 342 and 343.
André Parinaud: The gravity of Warrior in Galerie des arts, February 1970.
Jean Dalevèze, Raymond Guerrier, Editions of the Museum of Art and History of Saint-Denis, 1972.
Raymond Guerrier, Editions du Center culturel Jean Houdremont, La Courneuve, 1979.
Jean Cassou, Pierre Courthion, Bernard Dorival, Georges Duby, Serge Fauchereau, René Huyghe, Jean Leymarie, Jean Monneret, André Parinaud, Pierre Roumeguère and Michel Seuphor, A century of modern art - The history of the Salon des Indépendants, Denoël, 1984. See page 262.
Christine Counord-Alan, The figurative reaction 1948-1958, Éditions Galerie 1950 - Alan, 1990.
Raymond Guerrier, Editions du center culturel du Palais Bénédictine, Fécamp, 1990.
Gérald Schurr, The Guidargus of painting, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, 1993 (see page 473), 1996 (see pages 393-394).
Raymond Guerrier, Editions du Musée Paul Valéry, Sète, 1996.
Emmanuel Bénézit, Dictionary of painters, sculptors, draftsmen and feeders, Gründ, 1999. See volume 6 page 544.
Jean-Pierre Delarge, Dictionary of modern and contemporary plastic arts, Gründ, 2001. See page 522.
Lydia Harambourg, "Raymond Guerrier" in La Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot, Friday June 28, 2002.
"The new wave, young painting" in La Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot, Friday, April 8, 2005, page 180.
Pierre Basset, The rebels of modern art - Young painting, Paris, 1948-1958, Un certain regard Editions, 2009.
Philippe Latourelle and Pierre Basset, Rediscovered reality, Young Painting, Paris, 1948-1958, edition Association Présence van Gogh, 2010.
Éric Mercier, Years 50 - The young painting, volume I: The figurative alternative; volume II: Panorama of Young Painting, Éditions ArtAcatos, 2010. See volume I, chapter 6 page 217: Young painters: Jean Pollet, Raymond Guerrier, Maurice Verdier, Raoul Pradier, Richard Bellias; volume II, pages 192 to 195: Raymond Guerrier.
Lydia Harambourg, The School of Paris, 1945-1965 - Biographical Dictionary of Painters, Ides and Calendes Editions, 2010.
Sarah Wilson, Pierre Basset, Julien Roumette and Florence Condamine, The rebels of modern art - Paris, the 50s, Mendjisky Museum - Schools of Paris, 2016 (read online) [archive].