HENRY LHOTELLIER 1908/1993

OIL ON CANVAS 50X61CM DATED 69. TITLED: SOLEIL LEVANT 1969

Henry Lhotellier was born in Calais on December 13, 1908. He grew up in a family environment surrounded by local artists. While following classical studies, he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Calais. He obtained his law degree from the University of Lille. At the age of 16, he took part in an exhibition at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in his home town. For a time, he practiced law, while devoting himself to painting and reflecting on art. He took on a professional life as a master glassmaker, a technique he had learned in 1930 in Pierre Turpin's workshop. In 1935, he took over Pierre Fourmaintraux's workshop in Boulogne-sur-Mer. From 1945, he was involved in the reconstruction of stricken religious buildings in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.
During his Paris period, 1948-1956, he gravitated towards the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and the Groupe Espace. He sent three works to the Salon in 1948 and participated regularly until 1956. From the first canvases executed in 1946 to the large panels of 1950 and 1951, his style asserts itself, builds up and purifies itself, with a search for simplification, composition, balance and the plastic rigor of compositions on Isorel panels: Kerebes-1951, Simaldon-1952. This was to be the most fruitful period of his career. Above all, the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles offered him a wonderful opportunity to meet and exchange ideas. Various trends emerged, from lyrical abstracts such as Nicolas de Staël, Pierre Soulages and Serge Poliakoff, to geometric abstracts. The latter group included Henry Lhotellier and - among others - Herbin, Del Marle, Kupka, Domela, Warb, Lempereur-Haut, Fleischmann and artists from the South American group Arte-Madi.

Exhibitions

1929 Lille, Salon du Moustique, Montsalut gallery, with Simon la Flize and Del Marle
1931 Lille, Salon de la Mer, galerie La Flize, with Gromaire, Tal-Coat, Laboureur,
Del Marle, Lempereur-Haut and the Belgians Permeke, Van Den Berghe and Tytgat
1931 to 1934 Boulogne-sur-Mer, Salon des Artistes du Boulonnais
1937 Paris, Exposition Internationale (Artois pavilion decor, stained glass)
1938 Boulogne-sur-Mer, martial arts exhibition organized by La Nef, with Del Marle, Gleizes, Servaes
1944 Paris, Galerie du Verseau, group show
1945 to 1947 Paris, Salon de l'Art libre.
1946 to 1948 Paris, Salon des Surindépendants
1948 to 1958 Paris, Salon des Réalités Nouvelles
1951-1952 Buenos Aires, "Comme tu le vois", with Groupe Arte Madi
1953 Boulogne-sur-Mer, exhibitions with Groupe Sextant 1957 Le Cateau, stained glass window after Auguste Herbin's "Joie
1957 Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Première Biennale d'art abstrait, Groupe Structure
1964 Lille, private show, Galerie Zadig
1965 Tourcoing, Musée des Beaux-Arts, "Peintres du Nord" exhibition
1967 Calais et Dunkerque, "L'estampe originale de Cézanne à nos jours" (Original prints from Cézanne to the present day)
1972 Saint-Omer, galerie S Garnier, private exhibition
1976 Saint-Omer, Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin, "Henry Lhotellier, Papiers collés".
1977 Paris, galerie Vercamer, "Six peintres du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais" (Six painters from Nord and Pas-de-Calais)
1980 Calais, Musée des Beaux-Arts, "Réalités nouvelles 1946-1956 Anthologie de Henry Lhotellier" (New Realities 1946-1956 Anthology by Henry Lhotellier)
1980 Riga, Museum of Foreign Arts, private exhibition
1982 Lille, Musée d'Art Moderne, "De Matisse à nos jours" (From Matisse to the present day)
1989 Calais, Musée des Beaux- Arts, "Photographic works, retrospective 1930-1933".
1992-1993 Calais, Gravelines, retrospective of the engraved work of Henry Lhotellier
1993 Château- Musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer, Henry Lhotellier retrospective.
2006-2007 Calais, Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle, "Les Liaisons Heureuses

Ref: WAVOB51AGK