Pierre FLEURY (1900-1985)

Pierre FLEURY (1900-1985)

The Old Castle of the Ile d'Yeu
Watercolour and gouache signed lower right
Framed under glass
Format (at sight): 14.2 x 18.2 cm
Format (frame): 28 x 32.5 cm

Born on 6 July 1900 in Boulogne sur mer, died on 1 October 1985 in Paris. Pupil of the engraver Bernard Naudin and the painters Paul Signac and Charles Guérin. After brilliant studies at the Sorbonne (general mathematics, astronomy, philosophy) he left to live a life as a sailor on board a Mauritanian from Camaret, on a tuna boat from Douarnenez to experience the heavy weather of the Bay of Biscay or on a coast of the Ile d'Yeu for coastal trawling.
First exhibition in Paris in 1923 at the Balzac gallery, then regularly at the Bernheim gallery or in Quimper at the Saluden gallery. He was appointed Air painter in 1934, elected corresponding member of the Marine Academy in 1966 and titular in 1973.
The link with the weather became obvious as Pierre Fleury began his career in the Air Force by drawing and painting clouds during his military service. From sailing canoes to stationary meteorological ships (NMS), from his stays in Iroise and Ile de Sein, he observes and reproduces the sea and the clouds that fascinate him.
With the tip of his brush, he strives to reproduce in an impressionist style the subtle nuances of the sky, the sea and the play of light on the moving waves.