Alfred Manessier

Alfred Manessier (France, Saint-Ouen 1911 – Orléans,1993) is an informal painter, engraver and designer of stained glass windows for churches, stage and costume designer, considered one of the great protagonists of the Ecole de Paris.
In 1929 he enrolled in architecture, but soon decided to switch to fine arts and studied at the Academie Ranson in 1935. During these years, Manessier was chosen, together with Robert Delaunay and fifty other painters, to participate in the elaboration of the Pavillon de l’Air et des Chemins-de-fer built for the Paris International Exhibition of 1937.
In 1941, the artist took part in the exhibition ‘Vingt peintres de tradition française’ at the Braun Gallery in Paris.
In 1947 he produced stained glass windows for a church in Breseux and in 1949 a tapestry for a monastery.
After the Second World War, Manessier began to assert himself within the international art market, winning First Prize at the Sâo Paulo Art Biennial in 1952; First Prize at the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh in 1955; First Prize for Painting and Prize of the Catholic Liturgical Institute at the 31st Venice Biennale in 1962.
Alfred Manessier created works that can be defined as lyrical abstractionism, i.e. an abstract language elaborated in order to convey subjective and spiritual content, at the same time showing an interest in Art Informel. Through abstract images, titles and symbols, his paintings also convey religious meanings. We can also consider him an ‘abstract landscape painter’, who simultaneously portrays the light of the North (Bay of Somme, Flanders, Holland, Canada, Sweden), the South (Provence, Spain, Algeria) and many other places (Beauce, Brittany, Jura). Through his art, he became a witness to the injustice and tragedy of his time, painting canvases with political subjects. The events in Budapest inspired him Requiems (1956, during the Hungarian Revolution), in other of his works we find references to the Algerian War and the Vietnam War, in others his support for the struggle for the rights of black Americans.
He used different techniques for his artistic creations: stained glass windows (more than 200), tapestries, monumental animation works, paintings and works on paper.

© Alfred Manessier (1911)