Vicky Colombet is a French-born American visual Artist. She lives in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Life

Born in

in 1953, Vicky Colombet grew up in Paris in a family that was artistic and intellectual on her father’s side and nomadic on her mother’s side. Her mother’s search for her ancestry led the family to travel often to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The exposure to Asian Culture at an early age, has been a major influence. An avid reader of poetry and philosophy Colombet began as a writer and wrote two essays in

Les Temps Modernes ''Les Temps Modernes'' () was a French journal, founded by Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Its first issue was published in October 1945. It was named after the 1936 film by Charlie Chaplin. ''Les Temps Moderne ...

“Les Femmes s’entêtent" Involved in the

Feminist movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and wom ...

in Paris, she met

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

in 1974 and co-founded with her, and

Anne Zelensky Anne Zelensky (born 24 October 1935) is a French feminist activist and author. She is known for being a prominent figure in the Mouvement de libération des femmes (women’s liberation movement), which took place in 1970 that advocated to con ...

, Annie Sugier and Annie Cohen “ La Ligue du Droit des Femmes”. Vicky Colombet started a newspaper “ Les Nouvelles Féministes” (1974 to 1977) with

as the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

. The writer

Christiane Rochefort Christiane Rochefort (17 July 1917 – 24 April 1998) was a French feminism, feminist writer. She was born into a left-wing working class Parisian family; her father joined the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. Rochefort worke ...

(1917–1998), who became a close friend encouraged her to pursue an artistic career. The painter Henri Dimier (1899–1986), who was an iconoclast with an Asian approach to the practice of art became her mentor. And later, having the opportunity to meet with

Agnes Martin Agnes Bernice Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004) was an American abstract painter known for her minimalist style and abstract expressionism. Born in Canada, she moved to the United States in 1931, where she pursued higher education ...

in the last years of her life, Colombet was influenced by Martin’s rigor and her withdrawal from the world.

Work

In 2001, Colombet moved to America and became a U.S. citizen in 2013. In many of her paintings and drawings, as well as in her major architectural work the sandblasted curve
glass wall
o
Villa Nurbs
several elements (air, water, earth) merge to manifest the dynamic flux of the universe. "Breathing" is the character Colombet looks for in a work. Colombet never stopped drawing, as a vital exercise of hand and mind and as a record-like notes for the fiction she would unfold on canvas. Each of Colombet's paintings is the result of a long process that starts with the choice of the linen she handpicks in Spain or France. Colombet makes her own primer and grinds her own pigments. ''"Her paintings… work both as pure abstraction and as studies of nature. They can manage to seem resolutely nonobjective while conveying the weight of a study of mountains or stone. In fact, her philosophy of form can be said to occupy a point where abstraction and nature meet. Colombet’s singular vision juggles the opposition of representation and abstraction. The notable intelligence of her art is, indeed, based upon an objective, nearly scholarly research into the relations between the two. Vicky Colombet extends our knowledge of art’s ability to communicate effects that are inherently mysterious but truly compelling as things to see.”''

Biography

Recipient of the Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation award in 2001, the Pollok-Krasner Foundation grant in 2014. Vicky Colombet is a member of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts studio program since 2004. Her work has been exhibited extensively on both sides of the Atlantic and is in a number of important private collections in the US and in Europe. Notably, her two first solo shows in the United States were at Haim Chanin Fine Arts in New York and Evo Gallery in Santa Fe, both reviewed in Art in America. From 2005 to 2012, she collaborated with the Spanish architect to create a monumental glass work (150x 12 feet) inside the Villa Nurbs. From 2012 to 2015 she had several group shows a
Bernard Jacobson gallery
In 2016 she was in a three-person show at the Museum of Fine Arts at St Petersburg, FL. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery purchased one of her large painting "Antarctica" series the same year. Vicky Colombet is the first Contemporary artist to be included in the

Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''Impression, Sunrise''. ...

collection. The

invited her to have a dialogue with Claude Monet, part of the
Unexpected Dialogues" series - "Painting Like the River, Monet/Colombet"
Then "Impression, Soleil Levant" Monet/Fromanger/Colombet at The Bund One Art Museum with the Musée Marmottan Monet, the

Académie des Beaux Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

et l
Consulat Général de France à Shanghai
In 2022, the

, in collaboration with the Museum Barberini celebrates the 150th anniversary of, Impression, soleil levant nowiki/>Impression, Sunrise">Impression,_Sunrise.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Impression, Sunrise">nowiki/>Impression, Sunriseand pays tribute to it through the exhibition “Facing the Sun”, presented in Paris from September 21, 2022 to January 29, 2023. Vicky Colombet is one of the masters featured in this exhibition, in honour of the most illustrious sunrise ever known in art history. Vicky Colombet is represented by The Elkon Gallery in New York, and the Galerie Dutko in Paris.

Bibliography

"Vicky Colombet's Paintings Transcend Place"
Will Fenstermaker, Frieze, 2024 “Face au Soleil” - “Une matiériste du temps”, Connaissance des Arts, Hors Série nº994, Christophe Averty, September 2022
"Monet and Vicky Colombet Speak Across Time at the Musée Marmottan Monet"
Zoé Chevalier, Observer 2021
"Vicky Colombet's Vision of Endless Change"
John Yau, Hyperallergic 2021 "Time Travel" a
Leonard Hutton Galleries
(Master Drawings New York 2017), White Hot Magazine, January 2017 "Measured Life", Creative Loafing Tampa, 2016 "Navigating Abstraction" Wall Street International "A Philosophy of Form": In Vicky Colombet, Abstraction and Nature Meet on Equal Terms", Jonathan Goodman, artcritical, December 2014 “Coherent Surface, Radiant Light", at Bernard Jacobson Gallery,

Art News ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

, Barbara A. MacAdam, New York September 2012 Spanish TVE documentary "Continuara" 2012 "At Home With Town & Country" Sarah Medford, Hearst Books, 2010 On the Radar: "''Vicky Colombet: Terres de Brume / A New Geography'' at Bleu Acier",

Creative Loafing Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of an arts and culture news and events newspaper/magazine. The company historically published a weekly publication that once had a 160,000 weekly circulation. While Creative Loafing is no longer p ...

, Franki Weddington, 2009 “On Not Knowing Where to Stand” / "Mirando, Cayendo, Viajando" (catalogue), Galeria Fidel Balaguer, Barcelona, Spain. Lyle Rexer, April 2007 "Vicky Colombet at Haim Chanin Fine Arts",

artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

.com's "Critics' Picks", T. Nikki Cesare, Sept 2007 "Art of Conversation",

, Tampa, Megan Voeller, 2006 "Nothing to see from the ground", Nena Tsouti-Schillinger, 2004 "Winds", Haim Chanin Fine Arts, 2004 "Canapé" February 2004 edition

CUNY TV CUNY TV is a non-commercial educational station of the City University of New York, based in New York City. It offers telecourse programming in various subjects ranging from mathematics, physics, and biology to history, art, and social studies ...

» City University Television "Abstractions au Carré", Carré Sainte Anne, Montpellier,1997

Public collections

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA Albright-Knox Museum, NY, USA Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, USA Tucson Museum of Art, AZ, USA ----

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colombet, Vicky 1953 births Living people American contemporary painters American abstract painters 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American women painters