René-Maria Burlet

René-Maria Burlet (born July 9, 1907 in Albertville , † November 5, 1994 in Chambéry ) was a French artist.

Life

René-Maria Burlet

Double Spirale sur le Symbolisme de la Croix by René-Maria Burlet, oil on canvas, 1976

René Burlet was born on July 9, 1907 as the only child of the pharmacist and mycologist Frédéric Burlet and his wife Mathilde Grillet in Albertville ( Savoy ).

After graduating from Chambéry's boys' grammar school , he began studying industrial design in Grenoble . He then studied at the Lyon Art Academy . Here he made the acquaintance of Petresco, who introduced him to the techniques of fresco painting . With other young artists from Lyon, whom he met at the art academy, he would later found the "Groupe Témoignage".

During his military service in Nice from 1927 to 1930, stimulated by the mountainous landscape of the "Haute Provence", he discovered his love for landscape painting . After his military service he worked as a commercial artist in the advertising agency “Studio Stefa” in Saint-Etienne . In the course of time he became chief designer until 1940 and designed many well-known poster motifs.

In 1933 he married Marie Favre. The couple moved to "122, Rue Saint-Georges" in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon . The marriage had four children: Bernard, Marie-Christine, Marie-Noëlle and Béatrix. Today a plaque at this address reminds that René-Maria Burlet lived and worked there until 1989. An annual sales exhibition of his current work has been held there since November 8, 1935. He developed a personal artistic style and the “Sacred Surrealism” that he coined emerged. Inspired by Marcel Michaud and the “Groupe Témoignage”, which was founded in 1936, he was always looking for new forms of expression.

In 1937 he created his first fresco for the pavilion of the Savoie department at the World Exhibition in Paris . Since then he has signed his work with René-Maria Burlet , including his wife Marie, with whom he produced many of his works, but also because of his personal devotion to Mary , which arose after a pilgrimage to La Salette-Fallavaux . A visit (1938) to Albert Gleizes' studio in Serrières , whom he admired very much, confirmed his kinship with his work. This also included a strong orientation towards the golden ratio and the abstraction of cubism.

In 1942 he founded the “Académie du Minotaure” with the artists Jean Bertholle , Claude Idoux , André Lenormand and Étienne Martin in his studio. This emphasized a pedagogical orientation and thus stood in contrast to the academic concept of art of the established institutions in Lyon. When the Saône bridge "Pont d'Ainay" in Lyon was blown up by the German occupiers in 1944, his studio was also destroyed and the "Académie du Minotaure" had to be closed. He fled with his family to Chambéry, where he taught art at the boys' grammar school in Chambéry and the "Collège de la Villette".

Back in Lyon, a new creative phase began in 1947 and the "Académie du Minotaure" was brought back to life when an exhibition opened. First he taught art at the " Lycée Ampère ", then at the universities "École des Métiers" and "La Martinière" until 1973. With the help of Albert Gleizes' student Robert Pouyaud , he founded the cultural magazine "Atelier de la Rose". A total of 33 issues were published.

In his search for new techniques, from 1950 onwards, with the help of his wife Marie, numerous glass windows were made from “dalles de verre éclatées”: two and a half centimeters thick thick glass (dalle de verre), which is dismantled and hewn to fit, poured into concrete. He further developed his style and various techniques and realized numerous paintings, frescoes and glass windows. At the same time, he continued to devote himself to the “Académie du Minotaure”, which did not finally close its doors until the early 1980s.

In 1990 he returned to Chambéry with his wife. He died on November 5, 1994. His funeral mass took place against the backdrop of an impressive mural in the church "Saint-Pierre de Maché", which he had created years earlier.

literature

• Groupe Témoignage, 1936-1943 , Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, 1976
• Marcel Michaud, Lyon, 1933-1958, Stylclair, Groupe Témoignage, Galerie Folklore , texte de Bernard Gavoty, Espace Lyonnais d'Art Contemporain, Lyon, 1989 (76 p.)
• Variations sur le nombre d'or - Hommage à René-Maria Burlet , Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1993.
• René-Maria Burlet - Vers la lumière , textes d'Alain Vollerin, René Deroudille, Henri Giriat et Jean-François Ferraton, Éditions Mémoire des Arts, Lyon, 2000.
• Lettre à René-Maria Burlet de Jean-François Ferraton - Editions Chêne-Voyelle - 1993 -
• Alain Vollerin, Le groupe Témoignage de Lyon , Éditions Mémoire des Arts, Lyon, 2001 (120 p.).
• Le Poids du monde. Marcel Michaud (1898-1958) , sous la direction de Laurence Berthon, Sylvie Ramond et de Jean-Christophe Stuccilli, Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, Fages éditions, 2011, 320 p.

Web links

• Short biography on the website of the Museum of the Diocese of Lyon, accessed on December 13, 2012 (French)
• Information on René-Maria Burlet in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .