Biography

JEAN-FRANÇOIS CUGNIER

Pointillism with Perspective

Jean-François Cugnier was born in 1949 at Dijon in the Cote D’or region of France. Jean- François was born into a family of hard working farmers, so naturally his first models included the very accessible barnyard animals that were on the family plantation. Fascinated by drawings and colors, the young Cugnier began to seriously draw and paint at the early age of six. Cugnier’s artistic development showed great promise as his technique developed, but his father would have preferred that he focus his energy toward working on the family farm rather than on his art. It was actually Cugnier’s mother who offered him the encouraging inspiration that enabled his painting career to flourish. Sacrificing, she managed to save enough francs to purchase the young artist his first real set of paints and supplies when he was sixteen. It was at that same age that Cugnier entered the Technical College of Fine Art for some formal training as a painter. As with Renoir, it was here that he learned to paint typical Parisian scenes with a soft technique in delicate colors on porcelain. Again like Renoir, this was totally contrary to the budding artist and he chose another career path returning to school and becoming a laboratory technician. It was during this time that he discovered the art of Georges Seurat and suddenly became interested in the possibility to commingle science and art.

Dots… little dots, technically know as pointillism, a form of painting by which tiny application of primary colors are used to generate secondary colors. Cugnier became very concerned with color theory and embarked on an intensive scientific investigation of the physics of light and color comparing his results with those of photography. Cugnier, set out to build on the innovations of Seurat. Cugnier’s colors, like Seurat’s, are handled in an untraditional manner, broken down into an infinite series of tiny points, each one separated and detached. Seuart worked to enhance the effect of light and shade and provided the model for a “scientific art” based on a group of the principles of optical superimposition of colors. Renoir speaking of Seurat said, “…I cannot imagine Seurat’s pictures painted in broad or blended strokes…” The same applies to Cugnier’s work; like his choice of tones his technique is intensely personal. But the dots are not simply a technique; they are a tangible surface and the ground of important qualities, including finesse. The artist could use strong colors in big areas for a brighter effect. But without his precise means we would not have the marvelous delicacy of tone, the uncountable variations within a narrow range, the vibrancy and soft luster, which makes his art a joy to contemplate.

Marco D. Pelletier, director of Gallerie Je Reviens is Jean-François Cugnier’s exclusive representative in North America. The gallery is pleased and privileged to exhibit his art to you for your viewing pleasure.