Cleo (born Clementina Cote, 1943–2007) was a French

fauvist Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...

neo-impressionist Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the beginn ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Biography

Clementina Cote was born near Lyon in 1943. Her youth fell 1960s - the time of "

Flower children Flower child originated as a synonym for ''hippie'', especially among the idealistic young people who gathered in San Francisco and the surrounding area during the Summer of Love in 1967. It was the custom of "flower children" to wear and dis ...

, the

sexual revolution The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the late 1950s to the early 1 ...

and the creation of

communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

. Cleo, pseudonym or abbreviation from her name and her family name - Clementina Cote, she invented for herself as a protest against her family name. Cleo, thus she was known in communes and in Giverny and like this she signed her paintings. The rebel, Cleo didn't recognize all official art and any critic. Although she got artistic education in the Academy of Fine Arts, Cleo denied the power of museums and auctions. In her youth she idolized

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

. When Cleo was sixteen she escaped from home to Paris to become a disciple of Picasso. Cleo was lucky - the maestro gave her some lessons in his Paris studio. Later, her life crossed with other artists - Dalí and

Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

. There were three periods in her life and art. The first is the life in communes throughout the world: in Europe, England, USA right after Academy of Fine Arts. The paintings of this period are impressive, impetuous and full of unchecked sexuality. At this time Cleo bore two children. The second period passed under the sign of

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

. She lived in the village of

Giverny Giverny () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern French Departments of France, department of Eure.still lifes A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

, flowers, views of Giverny. At that time her

artistic style In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories" or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed a ...

became a mixture of

fauvism Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...

and

neo-impressionism Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the begin ...

. The third period is her return to home and to her children. She lived a calm, measured life, entirely devoted to art. Cleo died at Lyons in 2007 at the age of 64.

External links

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Cleo (Clementina Cote) biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleo 1943 births 2007 deaths 20th-century French painters 21st-century French painters 20th-century French women painters 21st-century French women painters Painters from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes * French Post-impressionist painters