By Jean Arène
Located in Cotignac, FR
A crayon and chalk drawing of a band by French artist Jean Arène. The work is signed and dated top left. Presented in plain metal frame under glass.
A charming coloured drawing of a Provencal musical band. The French equivalent of a 'mariachi band'. Two trumpet players, a tuba and a drum. The musicians are all wearing straw 'boater' hats and striped blazers. In the background is the terrace of a café with its green tables. Arene has captured, with a lightness of touch, all the excitement and animation of the scene.
Jean Arène was a student of August Chabaud, a highly sought after French artist in Provence who in turn took his inspiration from Cezanne.
After a stint in 1949 at the School of Fine Arts in Marseille, then a year in Paris in 1950 with the poster artist Paul Colin, Jean Arène returned to Marseille the following year where he founded the "Group of under 30' with Trofimoff, Trabuc, Zutter and Mela and began painting as an autodidact, while earning a living in advertising and decoration.
His first exhibition dates from 1956. Then, from 1957, Jean Arène left the city for the countryside, which served as his base for many trips, often hitchhiking and backpacking, but always accompanied by a pencil and a sketchbook: Spain, Morocco in 1957, West Africa in 1960, (followed by an exhibition in Dakar), Northern Europe (Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Lapland , Lofoten, Netherlands and Belgium) In 1963 a trip to Tunisia. Then in 1966 his first retrospective in Toulon.
In 1970 Arène left for the United States and Mexico, followed two years later by West Africa again: Tassili, the Sahara and Algeria.
He exhibited extensively in Provence and the Gard: Aix-en-Provence, Uzès, Avignon, La Ciotat...
Category
Late 20th Century Expressionist Wax Crayon Figurative Paintings
MaterialsPaper, Chalk, Crayon, Oil Pastel, Pastel, Wax Crayon
