Gaston Sebire

Gaston Sébire (August 18, 1920 - 2001) was a French painter of seascapes, landscapes, still lifes and flowers.

Early life

Sébire was born in Saint-Samson, Calvados, and grew up in Bretteville-sur-Odon. He began to paint around eighteen years old. He studied at the Maitrise Sainte Evode in Rouen.

Career Sébire joined the Post Office, working at night and painting during the day. In 1951 Sébire moved to Paris, and one year later held his first exhibition in the city at the Galerie Visconti.

In 1953, the Marquis of Cuevas asked him to design the costumes and scenery of L’Ange gris, a ballet based on orchestrations of Claude Debussy's Suite bergamasque by André Caplet and Gustave Cloëz. During that same year Sébire won both the Prix de la Critique and the Prix Casa Valasquez, the latter giving him the opportunity to spend a year and a half working in Spain. Winning the Greenshields Foundation Prize in 1957, allowed him to continue this study for another two years.

Sébire settled in Normandy. His works from this period show influence from the Neo-Realist movement.

Sébire participated in many group exhibitions in Paris In 1975, Sébire became the official painter of the Marine National, or French Navy, and established himself as a lithographer. Also in 1975, he was made Chevalier dans l’Order National du Merite.

A retrospective of the artist's figurative paintings was presented at the Musee de la Marine in Paris. The Amateurs Rouennais d’Art published a literary work including his biography and more than 200 of his pieces.

After a sixty-year career, Sébire died in 2001 in France.

IN 2015, a collection of Sébire's work was exhibited at the Métropol'Art.

Solo exhibitions

Galerie Gosselin, Rouen (1944) Galerie Visconti, Paris (1952) Galerie Charpentier, Paris (1956) Galerie Combes, Clermont-Ferrand (1961) Galerie Drouant, Paris (1962, 1965, 1968) Musee de Rouen (1964) Wally Findlay Gallery, New York City, and Chicago (1965) Wally Findlay Gallery, Paris (1965,1976,1992) Cultural Center, Le Mesnis-Esnard Retrospective, Museum of Fine Art, Rouen (1986) Ville de Montfermeil (1991)

Public collections

Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris The Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin The Joe and Emily Low Art Gallery of Syracuse University Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery Rouen Museum of Fine Arts