Alfred Manessier Biography
Alfred Manessier (Saint-Ouen, 5 December 1911 – Orléans, 1 August 1993) was a French painter, engraver, costume designer and designer of stained glass windows for churches. Alfred Manessier, an eclectic artist, is known above all as a non-figurative painter and is considered one of the Masters of the School of Paris. Since childhood he has been influenced by the brightness of the Somme River Bay and the landscapes of Picardy: in many of his canvases we can see the reflection of the water of the rivers and the sea coast. He favored Rembrandt's paintings - full of light and color - and as a boy he copied Rembrandt's paintings exhibited in the Louvre. Gradually his painting became abstract. Since 1947 he has produced stained glass, first at the request of the diocesan commission of sacred art of the Archdiocese of Besançon, then of the Dominican friars of the Le Saulchoir convent. Despite these artistic experiences, he always rejected the label of religious painter. Since 1956 - the date of the Hungarian Revolution - he has also painted canvases with political subjects, against all kinds of violence: the events in Budapest inspired Requiems; other canvases he painted to stigmatize the Algerian War and the Vietnam War, and to support the fight for the rights of black Americans. He also created canvases in homage to Miguel de Unamuno and Martin Luther King. The Brazilian "bidonvilles" inspired the Favellas series of canvases. He traveled tirelessly, in Belgium, Holland, Canada and Provence. He deserved the 1st prize for painting at the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil in 1953; the 1st prize in painting from Carnegie-Mellon University of Pittsburgh in 1955, for the oil Crown of Thorns; the international prize of the Valencia international exhibition and the prize for painting at the Venice Biennale in 1962. On 28 July 1993 he was the victim of an accident in Loiret. Admitted to Orléans hospital, he died a few days later.
