Cafe Noir
Cafe Noir
The Work of Master French Oil Painter Nicolas Foster Becourt
www.nicolas-foster.com
Presented by Patrimoine Vivant LLC:
www.PVgallery.com | info@pvgallery.com
September 9 - 28, 2010
Opening Reception:
Thursday September 16, 8p
featuring blues, jazz and swing music by
"The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band"
www.lostwandering.com
chashama 217 Art Space
217 East 42nd Street
New York, NY
1 1/2 blocks east of Grand Central, btwn 2nd & 3rd Aves;
4,5,6,7 and shuttle train to Grand Central
M15, M101, M102, M103 to 42nd Street
The Cafe Noir art exhibition will present New York with a strong dose of extraordinary craftsmanship through the French painter Nicolas Foster Becourt, a living master whose paintings are beautiful, special, romantic and idealistic. These paintings are human treasures on canvas, which in their elegant, traditional and unpretentious way speak very loudly and have much to say.
A television broadcast documentary has been produced about Nicolas Foster Becourt: "Le Corps Envisage." The documentary was coordinated around a solo exhibition of his paintings and sculptures, this one in particular having been sponsored by the French Ministry of Finance. The documentary includes private interviews, sheds light on Nicolas Foster Becourt's influences, and shows the artist at work in his Paris atelier. This documentary will be screened daily during the Cafe Noir exhibition in New York; an excerpt from the documentary can be viewed online at www.PVgallery.com
Nicolas Foster Becourt began drawing and painting at the age of 13; he studied and revered the work of the Old Masters. For years he was "under the spell of Rembrandt," as he describes in his book, "L'oeil, la Main et la Voix du Peintre" (Becourt is an accomplished writer and clarinet player). After attending Academie Baudry and then sharing a studio for one year with French painter Louis Fachat, Nicolas Foster Becourt was admitted into the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, the most elite institution of fine arts in France. Becourt draws inspiration from both ancient and modern painters; in his own words: "My tastes in painting, as in music or poetry, have always been very eclectic. The Maesta painted by Duccio in the Fourteenth century or the series of suicides painted by Rebeyrolle in the 1980s move me equally- they affect and move me differently, that is all." Becourt paints natural forms, but forms which he gently transfigures- the human face, the female body, trees; he uses colors which are vivid but never jarring, colors which work together and complement one another. His canvases have both substance and depth, but they also create a sensation of harmony. Achieving this harmony constitutes one of the artist's most important and recurring goals: to capture and convey the perfect unification of sensuality and intellect, a synthesis highly valued in French culture and tradition, and which one could say Paris itself embodies as a city. There can be no doubt that Nicolas Foster Becourt's beautiful, gentle and graceful canvases add something pure and positive to life, which helps explain why they have found their way into important private collections throughout Europe and America.
The Work of Master French Oil Painter Nicolas Foster Becourt
www.nicolas-foster.com
Presented by Patrimoine Vivant LLC:
www.PVgallery.com | info@pvgallery.com
September 9 - 28, 2010
Opening Reception:
Thursday September 16, 8p
featuring blues, jazz and swing music by
"The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band"
www.lostwandering.com
chashama 217 Art Space
217 East 42nd Street
New York, NY
1 1/2 blocks east of Grand Central, btwn 2nd & 3rd Aves;
4,5,6,7 and shuttle train to Grand Central
M15, M101, M102, M103 to 42nd Street
The Cafe Noir art exhibition will present New York with a strong dose of extraordinary craftsmanship through the French painter Nicolas Foster Becourt, a living master whose paintings are beautiful, special, romantic and idealistic. These paintings are human treasures on canvas, which in their elegant, traditional and unpretentious way speak very loudly and have much to say.
A television broadcast documentary has been produced about Nicolas Foster Becourt: "Le Corps Envisage." The documentary was coordinated around a solo exhibition of his paintings and sculptures, this one in particular having been sponsored by the French Ministry of Finance. The documentary includes private interviews, sheds light on Nicolas Foster Becourt's influences, and shows the artist at work in his Paris atelier. This documentary will be screened daily during the Cafe Noir exhibition in New York; an excerpt from the documentary can be viewed online at www.PVgallery.com
Nicolas Foster Becourt began drawing and painting at the age of 13; he studied and revered the work of the Old Masters. For years he was "under the spell of Rembrandt," as he describes in his book, "L'oeil, la Main et la Voix du Peintre" (Becourt is an accomplished writer and clarinet player). After attending Academie Baudry and then sharing a studio for one year with French painter Louis Fachat, Nicolas Foster Becourt was admitted into the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, the most elite institution of fine arts in France. Becourt draws inspiration from both ancient and modern painters; in his own words: "My tastes in painting, as in music or poetry, have always been very eclectic. The Maesta painted by Duccio in the Fourteenth century or the series of suicides painted by Rebeyrolle in the 1980s move me equally- they affect and move me differently, that is all." Becourt paints natural forms, but forms which he gently transfigures- the human face, the female body, trees; he uses colors which are vivid but never jarring, colors which work together and complement one another. His canvases have both substance and depth, but they also create a sensation of harmony. Achieving this harmony constitutes one of the artist's most important and recurring goals: to capture and convey the perfect unification of sensuality and intellect, a synthesis highly valued in French culture and tradition, and which one could say Paris itself embodies as a city. There can be no doubt that Nicolas Foster Becourt's beautiful, gentle and graceful canvases add something pure and positive to life, which helps explain why they have found their way into important private collections throughout Europe and America.
