Pierre Carron
FR

Biography & preface

Born in Fécamp on 16 December 1932, Pierre Carron spent his childhood in Le Havre, in a family closely connected to the sea. His paternal family included fishermen working the Newfoundland grounds. On his mother’s side, his grandfather designed and built the famous schooners La Belle Poule and L’Étoile, training ships for the French Navy, at the Fécamp shipyards he managed.

Depiction of La Belle Poule


Pierre Carron left his studies at the Lycée François Ier in Le Havre to devote himself entirely to drawing. He attended evening classes at the École Régionale des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre. Its director invited him to work alone in the school during the day, where he studied the fine plaster casts in its collection. He was sensitive to the history of the estuary between Honfleur and Le Havre, with its memories of illustrious predecessors including Monet, Eugène Boudin, Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz. This heritage felt like an invitation to pursue the dream of becoming a painter himself. Following tradition, Pierre Carron then moved to Paris and enrolled in Gustave Corlin’s preparatory studio for the major art schools, where he became friends with Raymond Humbert and Pierre Faure.

He passed the entrance examination for the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. After one year, he chose to continue his training at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, gaining admission by competitive examination to Raymond Legueult’s painting studio. He won the school’s principal competitions and, finally, the Premier Grand Prix de Rome in 1960. From 1961 to 1964, he stayed at the Villa Medici.

Alongside his studies, he was invited to exhibit at the Galerie Charpentier as part of the École de Paris, showing an Annunciation in 1956/1957. The critic Claude Roger-Marx noticed his work, devoted an article to him in Le Figaro Littéraire, and invited him to take part in the selection for the Prix de la Critique, which he won in 1957.

After his stay at the Villa Medici from 1961 to 1964 and a move to the Normandy countryside at Saint Romain, he was invited by Nicolas Untersteller, director of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to take responsibility for the still-life studio, before succeeding his former teacher Raymond Legueult. The events of May 1968 interrupted the project. Faced with the educational uncertainty that followed, he identified ‘the museum’ as a privileged place for reflection. To that end, he organised a study group called the Groupe de Recherche des Moyens d’Expression Plastique. Alongside his traditional duties as a studio head, he also established and taught a course entitled Analyse d’une œuvre (Analysis of an Artwork). He continued teaching as a studio head until 1998.

Pierre Carron died on 19 March 2022 in his studio at the Institut des Beaux-Arts in Paris, surrounded by his close family.

Pierre Carron, Académie des beaux-arts, 28 November 2012

On 21 February 1990, he was elected to the Académie des beaux-arts in the seat previously held by Félix Labisse. Vice-president in 2001, he became president of the Academy in 2002, and again in 2019. Working between Chartres and Brittany, he continued to explore his characteristic themes: the sea, gardens, portraits, still lifes and more.

Pierre Carron was a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur and an Officier of the Ordre national du Mérite, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Palmes académiques.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
  • 1952-1955 Paris salons: Jeunes Peintures, Indépendants, Artistes Français, Tuileries and others, France
  • 1956-1957 Galerie Charpentier, École de Paris, Paris, France
  • 1957 Galerie Saint-Placide, Paris, France
  • 1957-1961 Galerie Ventadour, Paris, London, San Francisco, Tokyo
  • 1959 First Paris Biennale, Paris, France
  • 1966-1973 Galerie 9, Paris, France
  • 1968-1974 Salon de Mai, Paris, France
  • 1974 Musée de Pontoise, France
  • 1975 Salon d’Automne, Paris, France
  • 1979 Études d’après la nature moulée, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
  • 1980 Les métiers de l’art, an exhibition initiated by François Mathey, with an educational presentation of Pierre Carron’s studio, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
  • 1980 Maison de la Culture André Malraux, Cergy, France
  • 1981 Galerie Albert Loeb, Paris, France
  • 1983 Galerie Philippe Guimiot, Brussels, Belgium
  • 1985 Galerie Philippe Guimiot, Brussels, Belgium
  • 1986 Galerie Albert Loeb, Paris, France
  • 1988 Galerie Il Tempietto, Brindisi, Italy
  • 1989 F.I.A.C., Galerie Albert Loeb, Paris, France
  • 1989 Aspetti della scultura contemporanea 1900-1989, Galerie Forni, Italy
  • 1989 Chicago International Art Exposition, Chicago, USA
  • 1989 Galerie Albert Loeb, Paris, France
  • 1990 Galerie Albert Loeb, Paris, France
  • 1990 Ateliers Roma-Paris, Galerie Il Tempietto, Brindisi, Italy
  • 1990-1991 Salon de Mars, Paris, France
  • 1991 Musée Denon, Chalon-sur-Saône, France
  • 1991 Galerie Albert Loeb, Paris, France
  • 1997 Galerie Piltzer, Paris, France
  • 2000 Galerie Piltzer, Paris, France
  • 2001 Galerie Mogabgab, Beirut, Lebanon
  • 2002 Panorama Museum, Bad Frankenhausen, Germany
  • 2002 ‘Némésis et invention Zeitgenössische stilleben in Europa’, Germany
  • 2002 Galerie Il Tempietto, Brindisi, Italy
  • 2002 Triennale Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
  • 2005 Mobilia Arredamento d’Interni, Bologna, Italy
  • 2010 Contemporary art gallery, Chinon, France
  • 2013 Galerie Atelier Visconti, Paris, France
  • 2013 CHIFRA group exhibition (China, France), Paris, France
  • 2013-2014 Matzo Paris Art Fund, Rue Royale, Paris, France
  • 2014 CHIFRA group exhibition (China, France), Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, China
  • 2015 National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
  • 1990 Wall paintings, Church of Saint-Martin and Saint-Magne, Nangis
  • 1993-2003 Stained-glass windows, Orléans Cathedral
  • 2006 Stained glass, wall paintings and flooring, Maison des Trois Nourrices, Narbonne
  • 2011-2012 L’annonciation, oil on canvas, Meaux Cathedral
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

  • Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou:

    • Nature morte, oil on canvas, donated by the Société des Amis du Musée National d’Art Moderne in 1958.

  • École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris:

    • Hommage à Goya, oil on canvas, 1960, Premier Grand Prix de Rome.

  • Centre National des Arts Plastiques:

    • Nature morte, oil on canvas, purchased from the artist in 1954, on deposit at the French Embassy in Montevideo since 1955;
    • Composition, oil on canvas, purchased from the artist in 1955, on deposit at the Musée Denys-Puech in Rodez since 1956;
    • Composition, oil on jute canvas, purchased from the artist in 1968.

  • Musée d’Art moderne de Paris:

    • Vernissage, oil painting, c. 1953, acquired in 1954.

  • Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes:

    • La dispute, oil on canvas, purchased by the French state in 1979 (Salon d’Automne 1978).

  • Fonds régional d’Art et de Culture de Basse-Normandie, Abbaye aux Dames (Caen, Calvados):

    • Portrait de Caroline, oil on canvas, 1980.