F I N D L AY G A L L E R I E S
(1920-2001)
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1965 | oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 38 3/16 in | FG©133357
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“The works of Sébire will no doubt leave a lasting impression. Love of work well done by a master of his art. Recognized by his peers for the acuity of his eye, the exceptional precision of his brush, Sébire expresses himself with his palette and a mixture of colors, and in a single movement creates, fixes and corrects a beauty which is timeless. In the presence of his art, which resounds like a profession of faith; the devotee will be able to discern truth and say, that’s a painter!”
-Jacques Chirac Former President of France
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oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 38 3/16 in | FG©139033
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(1920-2001) Gaston Sébire, born in Saint-Samson, Normandy, in 1920, is recognized as one of France’s leading landscape, marine and floral painters. Like a true Norman, Sébire was silent and solitary by nature, with a personality as strong and frank as his paintings. Self-taught, he had his first exhibition in 1952. The following year he earned a double triumph by winning both the Prix de la Critique and the Prix Casa Velazquez which allowed him to spend eighteen months studying in Spain, free of financial concerns for the first time. Findlay Galleries brought Sébire’s work to America late in the 1950s. Since then he has been recognized as the official painter for the Ministry of the Navy of France and was knighted by the French government with the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite. He exhibited in all the important salons of Paris but remained fiercely loyal to his native Normandy where he lived. A talented, independent, and productive painter, Sébire is recognized today as one of the premier post-impressionists from the famed l’École de Rouen and a master of plein air painting. Sébire’s eloquent paintings revolve around the song of the earth, the beautiful landscapes, seascapes, and villages where life is imbued with blue skies, light winds, colorful regattas, and afternoons in the garden or by the seashore. His passion for still-life and floral work drove him to produce a highly respected and sought` after body of work featuring those classic themes. His paintings are perfect examples of what color, passion, rhythm, and virtuosity can do on a canvas. Findlay Galleries is proud to present Gaston Sébire’s work after sixty successful years of artistic representation. 8
ABOUT SEBIRE AND HIS FLORAL WORKS Sébire was a strong and sturdy man, a man of the land who belonged wholeheartedly to his beloved Normandy. His work reflected those qualities, filled with confidence and elevated by a remarkable sensitivity for the small and the essential. Sébire’s representations of flowers and their arrangements present the viewer with balanced compositions in which the principles of floral design have been carefully considered. Through his dedication to floral painting Sébire was able to transcend some of the factors that defined his work as an en plein air landscape painter, namely, time and space. Sébire’s floral works are representations of beauty outside any particular historic context. The backgrounds are usually just that, backgrounds, against which the color, shape and rhythm of his flowers erupt. Unlike many of the flower painters that came before him, Sébire didn’t attempt to fake naturality. His work is a faithful representation of the moment, of the arrangement, and of the flowers in all their changing states within his precious and carefully selected vases. Much like fireworks, Sébire’s floral paintings are explosions of color into space, filled with movement and energy. The magic in Sébire’s paintings is in how he is able to capture all that energy and movement and present it with deep elegance and subtlety. Given today’s eclectic collecting styles, it is no surprise that his floral works continue to capture the hearts of art lovers around the world. His compositions are dynamic enough to appeal to those attracted by a more ‘contemporary’ vision, while the complexity and variety of his arrangements reaches the hearts of those who revel in more traditional styles. With this exhibition we encourage you to find the perfect Sébire for your collection.
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Contrasting Colors Mixing dark and bright flowers is a great way to define the individual elements while highlighting the qualities of each type. Green foliage can also be used to create dimension as the brighter colors dominate the foreground.
Dominance A single striking and large bloom can be the center of a composition, but a sense of pattern through the repetition of a bloom or a characteristic can be just as dominant within a composition.
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1980 | oil on canvas | 36 1/4 x 28 3/4 in | FG©138521
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Claude Monet (1840-1926) | Bouquet de glaïeuls, lis et marguerites oil on canvas | 32 5/8 x 24 1/2 in. | Painted in 1878 | private collection
“Monet painted such canvases with a flourish, confident in his ability to animate any still-life motif with the vivacity of his brushwork, unity of his light and coherence of his chromatics, and without excessive commitment to surface exactitude”.*
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*(R. Thomson, Monet. The Seine and The Sea 1878-1883 (exhibition catalogue), National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2003, p. 76)
oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 38 3/16 in | FG©138761
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1980 | oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 38 3/16 in | FG©133125
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Transition A mark of the master floral artists, gradual transition between types goes a long way into establishing a sense of naturality. A traditional answer is to place flowers in various stages together with the smallest buds at the center or top, partially opened blooms right underneath and full blossoms at the bottom or center of the arrangement.
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Balance Balance doesn’t mean symmetry; it refers to the pleasing arrangement of all elements in three dimensional space anchored by a sense of proportion.
Repetition Like the beauty of a field of flowers or a blooming garden, repetition brings unity to the arrangement while compounding the beauty of each individual element.
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oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 35 1/16 in | FG©130748
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oil on canvas | 92 x 73 in | FG©138664
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SÊbire’s works bridge the gap between the traditional and the modern, with straightforward representations becoming luscious expressionistic visions in which the flowers become a symbols of pure emotion, joy!
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Rhythm The viewer’s eye should move across the entire arrangement. A sense of visual flow can be established by varying between focal points and repetition as well as direction.
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oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 38 3/16 in | FG©130998
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Edouard Manet (1832-1883)| Roses mousseuses dans un vase, 1882 Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
When Manet turned exclusively to flower painting in his last months, he pared down this exemplary motif, in many ways paradigmatic of his life’s work, to its purest form, which he then invested with his most delicate sensibility and craft. Each of the late bouquets is placed simply at the center of the composition, on a gray marble tabletop against a neutral ground. Within this elegantly spare setting, the flowers provide a sudden burst of freshness—more like plein airpainting than studio work. George Mauner has written. “It is impossible when looking at these pictures not to remember Manet’s words, spoken in Venice thirteen years earlier, that an artist can say everything he has to say with ‘flowers, fruit, and clouds.’ With these last flowers, Manet gave us an eloquent and touching demonstration of his belief”.* 28
* (exh. cat., op. cit., 2000, pp. 46 and 144)
oil on canvas | 21 5/8 x 18 1/8 in | FG©135682
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1988 | oil on canvas | 39 3/8 x 28 3/4 in | FG©138541
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Notable Salons: Salon d’automne Salon de Mantes-la-Jolie Salon des Independants Salon de la Marine Ecole de Paris Salon d’Angers
Notable Awards: 1953 Prix de la Critique & Prix de la Casa de Velásquez 1957 Greenshields Prize 1966 Prize of the Trouville Biennial 1968 Gold Medal, Salon des Artistes Francais 1968 Medal of Honor, Salon de la Marine 1975 Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite
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1969 | oil on canvas | 39 3/8 x 31 7/8 in | FG©137977
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Focal Point Often, an arrangement will feature a focal point, a special specimen, whether a rare bloom or simply stunning in appearance can draw the eye and be used as the center to which other elements in the arrangement refer to.
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Floral Variety Interest and excitement can be achieved by exploring arrangements in which there is a high variety of flowers and elements. The secret is to find the proper balance and proportion to maximize the beauty of the arrangement without collapsing in disorder.
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1980 | oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 38 3/16 in | FG©138322
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Radiation The space and angle at which the stems emerge from the container or vase. It should be natural and proportionate between the length and width of both the top of the arrangement and the container or vase.
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1989 | oil on canvas | 57 1/2 x 38 3/16 in | FG©138243
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