James Coignard (1925-2008)

French painter, sculptor, engraver, James Coignard was born in Tours in 1925.  He lived and worked in Antibes, in the Maritime Alps, and he died in March 2008. 

Coignard began his studies in 1948 at the School of Fine Arts in Nice; however, his journey as an artist began in the Côte d'Azur, where he settled.  In fact, Coignard traveled a lot, living for a period from 1985 to 1988 in New Orleans.  His artistic career was marked by collective and personal exhibitions both in France and abroad (Sweden, Switzerland, the United States...), where he enjoyed fame and recognition.

Until the 1960s, his artistic development was characterized by an expressionistic style; then Coignard found himself moving towards an abstract one with random spots, regular shapes, typographical characters, and mixed media backgrounds. 

He was a painter but also a sculptor, who experimented with bronze and with glass.  His work as an engraver was also quite well-known. 

James Coignard created his first glass sculpture in the 1970s at the Fucina degli Angeli.  Only later, after meeting Adriano Berengo, did his creations in glass become richer and more organic.  He was fascinated by glass and its ability to capture light and by the world that revolved around the magical interrelation of the material, the artist, and the hands of the master glassmaker

During his career, Coignard made his talent available to many poets, with whom he loved to undertake the adventure of creating a book.  

Source:

Berenco Fine Arts, www.berengo.com