GASTON CHAISSAC

Gaston Chaissac, a perfect autodidact, has never followed any artistic training. He was born in Avallon (France) four years before the outbreak of the First World War. He will carry out all sorts of humble activities (kitchen boy, hardware clerk, apprentice saddler or shoemaker). In 1934, he moved to Paris with his brother, where they opened a cobbler’s shop, without success. Gaston Chaissac’s health was precarious; he was suffering from tuberculosis, which would earn him many stays in hospices and sanatoriums throughout his life. The painter Otto Freundlich and his companion Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss, his neighbors, will put him on the road to painting in 1937. The following year, he organised a Chaissac exhibition in Paris, his first solo show. Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay and others noticed him. From then on, he took part in group exhibitions in the Parisian Salons. He attracts the attention of R. Queneau, Jean Paulhan and Jean Dubuffet, with whom he begins an important correspondence. From 1948 onwards, the artist lives in the Vendée, and for more than twenty years will live a miserable life despite the numerous exhibitions that show his work and Dubuffet’s friendship. It is only four years before his death (1964, La-Roche/Yon, France) that Chaissac will exhibit more regularly in Paris, and will finally be recognized by the art world.