Lagune III

Raymond GUERRIER (1920-2002)

At the age of 14, Raymond Guerrier works in a Paris photogravure workshop. Passionate from an early age by painting, he made his first small paintings at 16 years.
Self-taught, he learns the trade by visiting museums and exhibitions. It was in 1952 that his life was going to be transformed. A dealer in the Rue de Seine, Gilbert Stiebel, opens his gallery to young painters to award a prize. Warrior will be the winner and his reward an exhibition in Paris, followed by one in London. The following year he won the Young Painting Prize, which opened the doors to success and recognition.
In 1954, he left Paris to settle at the foot of the Alpilles. From his first very dark canvases to the warm, contrasting landscapes of the South, his painting gradually evolves into a vigorous form of abstraction. His work is in the image of the man he was robust and poetic. It is composed of oils on canvas but also drawings, gouaches, paper glued as well as enamelled terracotta sculptures, a work of the land that he shared with his wife Francesca.