BIOGRAPHICAL MILESTONES
EVENING IN NANTUA
2007
76.77 x 44.88 in
Mixed media on canvas
Rachel Guy GRATALOUP was born in Nantua in 1935. From a young age, he revealed an exceptional talent for drawing. The nature surrounding him became a perpetual source of inspiration.
A brilliant student, he was forced to stop his studies at the age of 17 due to his father's death and to start working. While juggling various odd jobs, he enrolled in the Fine Arts School of Lyon, attending evening classes. He rented an old grocery store, "L’Économique," which he converted into his studio.
After two years of military service in Germany, he decided to resume his studies and took the entrance exam for the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, which he entered in the mathematics and physics section in 1960. Until 1992, he successively held the positions of Student Teacher, Lecturer, Director of Studies in the Art and Industrial Creation section, and finally, Founder and Director of the Research Center in Art and Industrial Creation.
In 1963, he joined the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1966, he became a laureate of the Institut de France for the Casa Velázquez in Madrid, where he would stay for two years. GRATALOUP's work was then heavily influenced by the Spanish landscapes of the "Valle de los Caídos," "Venta de Baños," and Salamanca, as well as by the chromatic light contrasts of Spain.
Upon returning to Paris, where he resided at the Cité Internationale des Arts, GRATALOUP decided to take the entrance exam for the Prix de Rome. As a laureate, he moved to Rome, to the Villa Médicis, which was then directed by the painter Balthus.
It was in Rome that he developed the technique specific to his work that we know today, that of "rubbings and pastings," as well as working in series.
A PALM TREE AT THE VILLA MEDICI
1970
63.78 x 51.18 in
Mixed media on canvas
PARIS LA DÉFENSE
GALILEE TOWER
A hard worker until the eve of his death on January 16, 2022, GRATALOUP painted over 5,000 canvases recorded across a hundred series. Each year of his life, the painter selected a theme from which he produced around fifty paintings of various formats.
A complete artist, mastering all the techniques of applied arts, such as ceramics, mosaics, stained glass, and tapestries, he also carried out numerous urban art projects throughout his life, the most famous of which is the "Tour Galilée" in Paris La Défense.
Difficult to classify due to the inventiveness and uniqueness of his creation, GRATALOUP is often referred to as a "New Symbolist," in line with painters like Puvis de Chavannes, Paul Gauguin, Munch, or Klimt, whose work he admired.
THE STUDIO HOME
In 1988, GRATALOUP installed his studio-home in Chevreuse, on plans drawn by his architect friend, Denis Sloan, member of the Academy of Architecture. The construction, strictly oriented to the cardinal points, is designed with a Cistercian rigor. Its layout is perfectly symmetrical in relation to a hall located in the east-west axis, from which the various volumes are organized. The large full height workshop reigns on the north side. Apartments are arranged on the south side.
For the artist this house is a kind of metaphorical transposition of certain themes used in his work. Through the many glazed openings, we can find the rays of light so present in his work : the «V», for example, symbols of a rediscovered light.
In 2020, the house was classified in the General Inventory of the Cultural Heritage of Ile de France (link).
Photos © Laurent Kruszyk
A LIFETIME WITH PAINTING
In 2017 Milena, the painter’s wife, writed and published the book “Grataloup Couleur Lumière”, 300 pages about the painter’s life and artwork.
Discover all the episodes in videos.
Grataloup Couleur Lumière en videos
EPISODE 1 - LES ORIGINES FAMILIALES - 1898/1934 - GRATALOUP COULEUR LUMIÈRE
EPISODE 2 - NANTUA - 1935/1940 - GRATALOUP COULEUR LUMIÈRE
