Background Image

Roger Bissiere

"Painting is not a job. We only paint when Grace falls upon us."

Pic

Notes of biography

Roger Bissiere was born in 1886 in Villeréal (Lot-et-Garonne, France). He was 17 years old when he began painting-by instinct. From 1905 until 1910, Bissiere studied to the Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux. Then he went to Paris and was a pupil of H. Gabriel Ferrier.
From 1912, he worked as a journalist and hold account-returned exposures for the Parisian weekly magazine “the Opinion”. After the First World War, he stroke up a friendship with many artists. André Lhote and Braque made him discover the cubism which was going to mark all the first part of his work. His articles about Seurat, Ingres and Corot, published in “L’Esprit Nouveau” were noticed. He was then close to the “Purism” of Ozenfant and Le Corbusier.
In 1925-1938 Bissiere became professor to the “Académie Ranson”; appreciated for his simplicity and his natural kindness, he taught to Alfred Manessier, Vieira da Silva or Jean Le Moal and so many others.
 
In 1938, he was ill and came back in Villeréal, finding quickly in the landscapes which surround him a new pictorial support. He was upset at the outbreak of the new war. At this same time, he was strucked down by a glaucoma, was about to become blind, then stopped painting until 1944. In 1945, although he was almost blind, he created a series of tapestries. He used the “collage” technique with his wife’s help who sewed shreddedand mixed up rags he put together. It was the time of his art blossoming, his maturity, everywhere in the world.
 
Bissiere had an operation in 1948; many works were born, happy of the light, happy to bud. Bissiere took part in many Salons - like Salon de Mai in Paris -, in biennial, in collective exhibitions abroad as well as in France. Many personal exhibitions were organized after his first one in 1910 (Paris - Galerie Berthe Weil ), many retrospectives too (Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France, United States, etc). Bissiere carried out engravings, illustrations, stained glasses paperboards (Metz’s Cathedral).
Roger Bissiere died in 1964. His whole work was exhibited in 1986 to the Modern art Museum of Paris.