André Brasilier, whose parents were also painters, was born in 1929 in Saumur, France. From an early age, he showed natural inclination for painting and he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at the age of 20. In 1953, aged only 23, Brasilier won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome of painting. He had his first retrospective of 100 artworks from 1950-1980 at the Château de Chenonceau in 1980 and a Retrospective exhibition at the Musée Picasso-Château Grimaldi in Antibes (French Riviera) in 1988. Over the years he held numerous exhibitions all over the world: France,Germny, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, United States, Russia, The Netherland, Korea, Hong Kong… Notably, he was honoured by a retrospective exhibition of his work at Russia’s renowned Hermitage Museum in Saint-Pétersbourg in 2005 and at the Museum Haus Ludwig für kunstausstellungen in Germany in 2007. Braslier’s works often feature themes and motifs of horses, nature, music, flowers, and women. Set against the most simplistic and romantic backgrounds, he transports us easily into surreal landscapes, which lighten the soul with dreamy infusions of figures set in simplicity of colours, shape and form. In an intimate communion with nature, he draws his inspiration from its language, sounds and colours, thus revealing the natural beauty of our surroundings. Although Brasilier bases his painting on reality, he is not a realistic painter, as once explained by Bernard de Montgolfier: “One could say that Brasilier has a very personal way of being non-figurative within figuration”. Indeed, he strives to make the invisible visible again, opening the viewers’ eyes upon the non-obvious, in a relentless quest for intimate and cohesive humanism. Brasilier’s paintings clearly share little in common with the dominant voices of the time, whether it be Abstract Expressionism, Color Field Painting, Pop Art, Op Art, Photo-Realism, or any of the “isms” of the latter half of the 20th century. His work distinctly continues in the tradition of the French “intimistes”: Bonnard, Vuillard, Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Henri Lebasque, etc… Like Brasilier, the work of these artists celebrated the “intimate” realities of their domestic life… their lovers, friends, family, and children; their homes, the landscape. These personal experiences were dignified and intensified through the expressive use of color and a simplification or abstraction that sought to capture their essence. I can imagine my tied-in-the wool Romantic/Modernist studio-mate dismissing Brasilier with a wave of his hand as “ an absolute nothing”. After all… Art to him and many others (and “Art” must be spelled with a capital “A”) must be a serious purging of the soul… a profound self expression… and a form of desecration. As Barnett Newman declared, “the impulse of modern art is the desire to destroy beauty.” But I suspect Brasilier would more likely agree with Oscar Wilde: “The artist is the creator of beautiful things.” Or Anatole France: “If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.” Or Pierre Bonnard: “Draw your pleasure- paint your pleasure- express your pleasure.” There are more than a few recent and even contemporary painters who share many of the same “vision” as Brasiler. Among these we might include: Milton Avery: Elmer Bischoff: Richard Diebenkorn: André Minaux To a certain extent, Giorgio Morandi: Wolf Kahn: Jane Wilson: Jane Frielicher: Alex Katz: and Kyle Staver: Looking closely at Brasilier’s paintings, I also find that they share a common spirit with Japanese art. Undoubtedly, this explains their popularity with Japanese audiences and collectors. Brasilier admitted to this shared aesthetic: “I am absolutely not a realist painter. I only like when things are suggested, and even when they appear mysterious. I have a nature that wants to simplify. I always try to give the quintessence of a subject with little effect, to say a lot with a little, like Japanese artists who focus on asceticism and simplicity.” “I am always painting. And if I’m not in front of a canvass, I always have sheets of paper with me to take notes, and to set down ideas that come to me. I consult them later when I start a new work. Painting is my life.” -André Brasilier