Roger Bissière (22 September 1886 – 2 December 1964) was a French artist. He designed

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s for

Metz cathedral Metz Cathedral, otherwise the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, Metz (french: Cathédrale Saint Étienne de Metz), is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Metz, capital of Lorraine, France. It is dedicated to Saint Stephen. First begun in the early 14th centu ...

and several other churches.

Biography

Roger Bissière was born 22 September 1886 in Villeréal, Lot-et-Garonne. In 1901 the family moved to Bordeaux. His mother, Elisabeth Chastaignol, died 25 April 1902. In 1904 his father, Fernand Bissière, did not allow him to enter art school. Roger then travelled to Algeria. When he returned in 1905, he enrolled at the ''école des Beaux- Arts de Bordeaux'' where he studied with Paul François Quinsac until 1909. From September 1910 he studied with

Gabriel Ferrier Gabriel-Joseph-Marie-Augustin Ferrier (29 September 1847 in Nîmes – 6 June 1914 in Paris) was a French portrait painter and orientalist. Biography His father was a pharmacist. He began his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he worke ...

at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

in Paris. He married Catherine Lucie Lotte (nicknamed ''Mousse''), 23 January 1919. Their son Marc-Antoine was born 15 July 1925. Bissière published articles in the magazine

L'Esprit Nouveau ''L'Esprit Nouveau'' () was a magazine founded by architect Le Corbusier, poet Paul Dermée, and painter Amédée Ozenfant in 1920. The publication addressed a wide range of artistic disciplines including literature, visual arts, and architecture ...

about Seurat (No. 1, 1920),

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassical painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic orthodoxy against the a ...

(No. 4, 1921) and

Corot CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly th ...

(No. 9, 1921). In 1936, Bissière was one of the artists who executed

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

and

Sonia Delaunay Sonia Delaunay (13 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in Odessa (then part of Russian Empire), and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to Fr ...

's designs for the

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the M ...

. He participated in the first three

documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultural ...

exhibitions of 1955, 1959 and 1964. After he realised his eyesight was deteriorating he was diagnosed with

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for aqueous humor, fluid withi ...

in 1939. By 1950 his peripheral vision was severely affected and he underwent surgery. This stopped him from going blind but did not improve his eyesight, and he complained his eyes tired more quickly when he was painting. Roger Bissière died 2 December 1964 in Boissièrette, Lot.

Legacy

''Rue Roger-Bissière'' ( fr) in Paris is named in his honour.

Forgeries

Between 1985 and 1995 John Myatt produced a number of fake Roger Bissière paintings for

John Drewe John Drewe (born 1948) is a British purveyor of art forgeries who commissioned artist John Myatt to paint them. Drewe earned about £1.8 million executing these art crimes. Early life Drewe was born John Cockett in 1948 in Sussex, England. ...

, a purveyor of forged art.

Notes and references

External links

* 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters 1886 births 1964 deaths People from Lot-et-Garonne School of Paris Art Informel and Tachisme painters {{France-artist-stub

Biography

Legacy

Forgeries

Notes and references

Further reading

External links