Albert Coste (1896 1985) 1950's Signed French Cubist Oil Painting Beautiful Orange Blue Green Colorsc. 1950's

Artist/ School: Albert Coste (French 1896-1985), signed lower right.

Born 8 November 1895, in Marseilles; died 22 August 1985, in Marseilles.

Albert Coste studied concurrently at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Conservatoire de Musique in Marseilles from 1909, which were at that time in the same building in Carli Square. In 1912-1913 he obtained his own studio. He was pre-selected for the Prix de Rome competition in 1914, which was interrupted due to World War I. After an accident in 1916, two of his fingers were amputated. He renounced a career as a cellist and devoted himself definitively to painting. He moved to Paris to study in the studio of Fernand Cormon. In 1919 he was introduced to the restoration of paintings and then worked in that field. That same year he met Maurice Denis, who offered him some teaching at the Art Sacré (Sacred Art) studios. In 1922 he returned to the south of France, settling in Aix-en-Provence. He became a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Aix-en-Provence in 1935. In 1941-1942 in St-Rémy-de-Provence, he met Albert Gleizes, with whom he would maintain close ties until his death. In 1946 he set up a painting studio at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Coste was an excellent technical painter and a highly cultivated man for whom painting, poetry and music (which he continued to practice) were the raison d'être of his life. His work may be divided into three main parts, which sometimes overlap. In his youth he treated an array of different subjects, demonstrating his technical mastery and the extent of his gifts. From 1919 his meeting with Maurice Denis strongly oriented and influenced his work towards more ambitious compositions, such as his Bathers of 1924 and 1933, and his Judgement of Paris. After meeting Albert Gleizes, whose personality, vast artistic knowledge and spiritual influence greatly impressed him, Albert Coste underwent a total reassessment. He first painted still-lifes and various subjects in a vein similar to that of Gauguin and the Nabis. He then resolutely turned towards Abstraction, painting compositions very similar to Gleizes' works, including Prophets of 1950. Other works of the time were more spontaneous, in keeping with the general spirit of post-war French Abstraction to be seen in the work of Bissière, Manessier, Lapique, and others. Coste was prolific. The division of periods shows a receptiveness to influences.

Coste participated in numerous collective exhibitions from 1952 to 1956. These included the second Salon des Tuileries (1924); the Salon des Artistes Indépendants (1942); the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles (1945); and the Salon d'Automne (1949). Collective exhibitions in Aix-en-Provence included one with Gleizes, Delaunay, Villon, Herbin and Légér (1953), and one with Calder, Masson, Messagier and Prassinos (1967). He also participated in Panorama of Abstract Painting ( Panorama de la Peinture Abstraite) at the Musée de Toulon (1958), and was represented in Women in Provence and the Mediterranean ( La Femme en Provence et en Méditerranée) at the Fondation Regards de Provence in the Château de Borély in Marseilles (2001).

His first solo exhibition was in Aix-en-Provence in 1933, and was introduced by Maurice Denis. It was followed by a second exhibition in Aix-en-Provence in 1939 with a new text by Maurice Denis, whom he would assist in 1941 on the decoration of a chapel in Thonon. He had another exhibition in Aix-en-Provence in 1949, this time introduced by Albert Gleizes. In 1945 he decorated the chapel of the Catholic college in Aix-en-Provence. In the same city in 1952 he painted a decoration measuring 12 by 4.5 metres at the Faculté de Droit (Faculty of Law), whose architect was Fernand Pouillon. In 1980 he was received into the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-lettres in Aix-en-Provence.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Arles (Mus. Réattu)
Carpentras (Mus. Comtadin-Duplessis)
Marseilles (MBA)
Paris (Fondation Albert-Gleizes)
St-Germain-en-Laye (Mus. du Prieuré-Maurice-Denis)

Title: Cubist composition

Medium: oil painting, on canvas, framed.

Size: frame: 15.25 x 22 inches
painting: 15 x 21.75 inches

Provenance: private collection, France

Condition: The painting is in very good condition.

Condition report:

Good