Gérard Lecomte (artist)

Lecomte Rard (2011)

Gérard Lecomte (born July 12, 1940 in Nice , † February 6, 2012 in Paris ) was a French painter , printmaker and sculptor . He later called himself Rard - the last four letters of his first name. His art was based on magical realism .

Life

Childhood and youth

His parents were Gérard and Suzanne Lecomte, b. Götz. Lecomte grew up in an environment that was shaped by the art of classical modernism. It is not known whether Lecomte was already aware of the artistic flair of the surrounding southern French landscape with its artists as a young boy, because when he was about 10 years old he moved with his family to Saarbrücken and attended the Lycée Maréchal Ney (today: German-French High school ).

The early years

Lecomte remained registered in Saarbrücken, but he was drawn to neighboring France, where he can be found in the Ècole des Arts Appliqués in Metz for the 1959/60 semester . Later, the Municipale des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg (Ministère d'Etat des Affaires Culturelles) issued him a Certificat d'Aptitude (1963). In 1965 he received the “Diplome National des Beaux-Arts, Section: Sculpture” in Strasbourg. In a letter, the director of the Strasbourg art school attested him a great talent. RARD had already completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter in Thionville and also practiced the techniques of sculpture. Both courses trained his technical sensitivity. Later he almost completely gave up sculpture.

First successes: a life between teaching and fine art

With these exams he went back to the Cote d'Azur, to Saint Tropez , where he worked from 1967 to 1970 as a master drawing teacher at the public schools of the city of Saint Tropez. But life there did not satisfy him, although he had his first successes as an artist and had already had several exhibitions. He moved again to Paris , where he taught at an art school for 14 years. It was only at the age of 40 that he decided to live and work as a freelance artist. Inspired by the changeful life in Paris, RARD began to develop and perfect himself artistically.

plant

RARD said about his art “Dans mon art - abstrait-fantastique - il se veut subjectif, comme la symbolique du dragon en relation avec l` astrophysique, les mathématiques et les sciences en géneral, touchant la vie sur notre planète, en rapport avec le cosmos " . And in a newspaper review of his joint exhibition with Jean Schaeffer in the Minerve Gallery in Metz, an unknown critic wrote, “Gérard Lecomte, whom we had seen earlier in the 'Rive Gauche' with bold drawings, this time surprises us with paintings in which he to a certain extent wants to illustrate the bursting of form. It is not about abstract painting, it is just a bursting of the form, an expansion into the cosmic of the contours "

First experiences as an artist

There are a few sculptures from earlier times, but he soon devoted himself to painting and printmaking techniques, with which he repeatedly experimented. It is said that he later occupied himself with the art of Francis Bacon for a while , but quickly destroyed the work when he himself discovered that it was too strongly influenced. He didn't want to imitate, but to create his own. This also explains why he did not adapt any of the many new art isms that he was confronted with on a daily basis. In 1969, RARD was invited by the US patron Ricky Cooper to exhibit in Los Angeles . Cooper was a collector and admirer of Lecomte's art and by then already owned six of his paintings.

Source of inspiration Asian culture

A special source of his inspiration since Paris has been Asian culture, which has always fascinated him. He occupied himself with Buddhism , the teaching of Zen, and even after a few years was ordained a Zen priest. He later acquired the black belt in the martial art Kung Fu . Dealing with this foreign culture was also reflected in his art. The Chinese calligraphy found its way into his art, which he combined with the European style elements of magical realism.

Fantastic painting

RARD created a new universe at an early stage, which exhibits beings which, especially in their visionary manifestations, have gained importance in society and in literature and in the film of the science fiction movement over the past few years . His painting thrives on the very free painterly handling of color and fictional forms in connection with geometrical elements, which he deliberately inserted, creating a tension. The figurative is alienated into the unrealistic and permeates the space, which moves into the esoteric distance. Throughout his life he was stuck with fantastic painting, even if there were no spectacular changes in his work.

Honourings and prices

• Médaille d'honneur de la Ville de Paris (1984)
• Medal d´Argent de la Ville de Paris "Peinture"

Commissioned work, etc.

• Bronze figure, acquisition by the city of Strasbourg (1964)
• Portrait of Monsieur Heuter (marble), Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Strasbourg (1966)
• LL Magneron, Les Femmes sont imbattables (Kung-Fu), 273 illustrations, Paris (1979)

Exhibitions (selection)

He had solo exhibitions at the Musée d´Art Moderne de Strasbourg, the Musée de Gassin, the Musée de Turckheim and the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris. More were

year	place	gallery
1965-1967		Gallery Rive Gauche - Minerve
1967-1968	Saint Tropez	Marcus Durand Gallery
1970		Galerie d 'Argens (Coll., Including Fritz Winter)
1973, 75, 77	Paris	Montparnasse Gallery 47
1976	Caracas (Venezuela)	Centro Plaza Gallery
1978, 1986	Clermont-Ferrand	Galerie Annie Renaud, there in 1978 in an art show with artists such as B. Cocteau , Ernst , Miro , Goya , de Chirico etc.
1989	Paris	Center Zen International
1991	Paris	Marie Friesz Gallery
1994-97	Paris	Librairie "Le Bateau Ivre"
1998	Paris	Sacrés Vins Dieux
2007	Saint Tropez	Marcus Durand Gallery
1970	Paris	Gallery du Champs de Mars

literature

RARD has almost all the press reviews about himself and his art. There is a monographic treatise on him.

• Norman Glass, Report from Paris, in: Pictures on Exhibit, vol. 38, February 1975. pp. 20 ff.
• The inclusion of RARD in the 2nd edition of the Lexicon Fantastic Art is in preparation.
• The entire artistic and written estate is with the heirs. A collection of his written statements in French must first be translated.

Web links

• www.gerard-lecomte-rard.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ("G.", in: Le Nouvel Alsacien, mercredi, April 20, 1966)
2. ^ Gerhard Habarta, Lexicon of Fantastic Art .