Roger Chapelain-Midy (1904-1992) - Large bouquet

Roger Chapelain-Midy (1904-1992)
Large bouquet (circa 1950)
oil on canvas 95x103cm
We thank Ms. Mireille Chapelain-Midy for kindly confirming the authenticity of this work. Roger Chapelain-Midy studied at the Paris School of Fine Arts, then continued his artistic training in the painting academies of the Montparnasse district. Later, he became professor workshop manager from 1955 to 1974. He exhibited in 1927 at the Salon d'Automne and from 1929 at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries. Armand Drouant in 1930 organized his first exhibition in his gallery on rue de Rennes in Paris. Passionate about the Renaissance, the painting of Poussin and that of the 17th century, he defends a classical tradition, made of measure, in an era which sees the great upheavals of modern painting. He received the Carnegie Prize in 1938. A theater decorator and costume designer, from 19426, he notably worked for Les Indes galantes by Rameau in 1952, and for The Magic Flute by Mozart at the Paris Opera in 1954. The success of his work allowed him to work at the Cologne Opera. As such, he received the grand prize for theater at the international biennial of Sao Paulo in 1962. We also owe him illustrations for texts by Jean Giraudoux, André Gide, Charles Baudelaire, Fontenelle, Jean de La Fontaine, Charles Vildrac, George. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, then President of the French Republic, commissioned a Portrait of General de Gaulle from him for the Élysée Palace in Paris. In a late lineage of symbolism and surrealism, a whole part of his work bears the imprint of his spiritual concerns, materialized by the obsessive recurrence of unusual decorations and objects such as checkerboard tiles, masks, mannequins and mirrors. In 1984 he published a collection of memories and reflections on art, Like the sand between the fingers. Public collections National Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, Museums of Albi, Angers, Bordeaux, Cambrai, Dijon, Dreux, Épinal, Fontainebleau, La Rochelle, La Tronche, Le Mans, Lyon, Menton, Remiremont, Rouen, Saintes, Saint-Étienne. Museums of Algiers, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Birmingham, Brussels, Cairo, London, San Francisco, Saô Paulo, Sofia. Roubaix, La Piscine, André-Diligent museum of art and industry. Portrait of General de Gaulle, 1980, Paris, Élysée Palace