Pierre Clayette

Pierre Clayette (24 March 1930–18 December 2005) was a French painter, etcher and lithographer, illustrator and scenographer. Active for five decades, much of his work was architectural in style.

Biography

Born in Paris in 1930, after high school Clayette attended the Académie Julian where he studied under Jules Cavaillès. On leaving the Académie he was recruited by Cassandre to work in his studio. Clayette's first known professional work was in the mid 1950s. From 1960 he explored a different artistic theme each year, exhibiting virtually continuously each year successively until the early 1990s at the Galerie Charpentier, the Galerie Roger Dulac, the Galerie Emmanuel David and the Galerie Proscenium. At the same time, he collaborated with the magazine Planète as a draftsman, and illustrated the covers or the text of books including the works of Shakespeare (including the series New Penguin Shakespeare), Goethe, Rimbaud, Kafka, etc. In the early 1960s, dramatist Jean Anouilh introduced Clayette to the stage actor and director Jean Le Poulain as "A painter of the waking dream". he also illustrated the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Jorge Luis Borges in the Fantasy Realism style. However, like many artists who at one point in their career were associated with the movement such as Pierre-Yves Trémois, Clayette's pictorial production did not stop at the themes of Fantasy Realism. Although the unusual is a constant of his work, it draws its references in many artistic currents including Romanticism, Baroque, Symbolism, etc.

Works Scenography (Sets and Costumes) By his own admission, Pierre Clayette was interested in scenography and theater design before even considering painting. The influence of Cassandre is evident in an artist who was one of the last representatives of the period between the 1920s and the late 1970s during which theater and opera directors often appeal to leading artists in the world of painting. As such, Clayette is part of a lineage that included, among others, André Derain, Balthus, Christian Berard, George Wakhevich, Cassandre and André Masson. Clayette entered the world of scenography in 1955 for a ballet by Daniel Wayenberg with Pierre Lacotte who entrusted him with his first set of sets. Clayette became famous among the great names of lyric and dramatic scenes, such as Maurice Béjart, Pierre Lacotte, Gabriel Dussurget, Maurice Escande and Jean Le Poulain, maintaining a long involvement with the latter until Poulain's death in 1988. Clayette's talent as a stage designer gave him the opportunity to express himself on the most prestigious stages, such as the Comédie-Française, the Palais Garnier and the International Festival of Lyric Art in Aix-en-Provence.

Scenographic creations 1955 - Solstice - Chor. Pierre Lacotte - Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Ballet) 1958 - Juliet - Chor. Maurice Béjart - Ballet - Théâtre de Paris (Ballet) 1958 - The Hunchback - Mesc. Jacques Dacqmine - Apollo Theatre (Theater) 1962 - The Contessa - Mesc. Jean Le Poulain - Théâtre de Paris (Theatre) 1962 - The Great Catherine - Mesc. Jean Le Poulain - Comédie-Française 1963 - A Caprice - Mesc. Maurice Escande - Comédie-Française 1963 - Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss - Chor. Werner Duggelin - Aix-en-Provence Festival (Ballet) 1964 - Zoroaster by Jean-Philippe Rameau - Chor. Michel Rayne - Opéra-Comique (Ballet) 1965 - The Nutcracker - Chor. Michel Rayne - Opéra-Comique (Ballet) 1965 - The Caleche - Mesc. Jean-Pierre Grenier - Théâtre de la Ville (Theatre) 1965 - Bifurcation - Chor. Pierre Lacotte - Ballets JMF (Ballet) 1965 - The Voice - Chor. Pierre Lacotte - Ballets JMF (Ballet) 1966 - Coppelia - Chor. Michel Descombey - Palais Garnier (Ballet) 1966 - The Locomotive - Mesc. André Roussin - Théâtre Marigny (Theatre) 1968 - The Marriage of Figaro - Chor. Jean-Laurent Cochet - Aix-en-Provence Festival (Ballet) 1969 - The Italians in Paris - Mesc. Jean Le Poulain - Comédie-Français 1972 - The black suits you so well by Saul O'Hara (French adaptation of Jean Marsan ) - Mesc. Jean Le Poulain - Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau (Theatre) 1973 - The Debauchery - Mesc. Jean Le Poulain - Theater of the Work (Theatre) 1973 - The Queen of Caesarea - Mesc. Jean-Laurent Cochet - Modern Theater (Theater) 1976 - Amphitryon 38 by Jean Giraudoux - Mesc. Jean-Laurent Cochet - Théâtre Édouard VII (Theatre) 1977 - Pygmalion - Mesc. Raymond Gérome - Théâtre de Paris (Theater)

French television The Treasure of the Dutch - sets by André François and Pierre Clayette (1969)

Book illustrations

Pierre Cuvillier, Cold China, illustrations by Pierre Clayette, Presses littéraires de France, 1949. William Shakespeare, Macbeth, sixteen original lithographs by Pierre Clayette, 30 numbered copies, The Hundred One, Women's Bibliophile Society, 1965. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (translation and preface by Paul Arnold), Faust, illustrations by Pierre Clayette, ODEJ Presse, 1966. Yves Masselot, Requiem Babel - Poems, illustrations by Pierre Clayette, Editions , Uzès, 1971. Roger Caillois, Dreams of Stones, inset illustrations by Pierre Clayette, Editions of the Caisse des Depots et Consignations, 1984. Arthur Rimbaud (presentation by Cecil Arthur Hackett), Poetic Works, illustrations by Pierre Clayette, Editions d'art of the Imprimerie Nationale, 1986. Jean Le Poulain, Paris Phantasies, illustrations by Pierre Clayette, Grappedis Publishing, 1989.

Public collections France Mills, National Center of Stage Costume National Center for Art and Culture, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Cabinet of prints of the National Library of France, Paris, Calm Morning Galley, etching and aquatint in colors, published by Lacourière-Frélaut, 1979 Library - Museum of the Comédie-Française, Paris. Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 'Calm Morning Galleon' and 'Amber Nave', prints National Fund of Contemporary Art, Paris, including depot: Military School of Administration, Montpellier. Centre National du Costume de Scene, Moulins, Allier Musée de Gajac, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, transcendent space, engraving

Italy International Museum of Applied Arts of Today (MIAAO), Turin