Geneviève Claisse found her vocation in a magazine rather than in a studio: it was by reading Art d'aujourd'hui that she discovered geometric abstraction. In 1964 she found her motif, the circle, and would not let go of it for fifty years. In 1967 she decorated the pool of the French pavilion at the Montreal World's Fair. A steel sculpture now stands over her.
The story
Her vocation was born not in a studio but in a reading: the review Art d'aujourd'hui, where she discovered geometric abstraction. She exhibited for the first time in 1958, at Cambrai and then in Paris; in 1961 Denise René took her into her gallery.
Born at Quiévy, in the Nord, on 17 July 1935, she was related to the painter Auguste Herbin — they came from the same village. In 1964 she found her motif: the circle, with Terre-siècle, then the album of silkscreen prints Cercles in 1967. A vocabulary of pure forms and flat colours, which she held to for more than fifty years without changing it.
That same year, 1967, she decorated the pool of the French pavilion at the Montreal World's Fair: French geometric abstraction stepped outside the frame. The Musée Matisse at Le Cateau-Cambrésis gave her a retrospective in 2015.
She died at Dreux on 30 April 2018 — she was preparing an exhibition for London. The grave in Division 91 is surmounted by a modern steel sculpture: the tomb resembles the work, which is rarer at Père-Lachaise than one might think.
The grave
A modern sculpture in steel, by an unknown artist: the grave of a painter of geometric abstraction looks like her, which is rarer than one might think in Père-Lachaise. The inscription consists of three elements: “Geneviève CLAISSE, artiste peintre, 1935-2018” — painter. Nothing of the circle, her motif for fifty years, or of the French pavilion in Montreal.
On site, do not miss
A modern sculpture in steel — the grave is in the image of the work. The inscription is limited to three elements: “Geneviève CLAISSE, artiste peintre, 1935-2018” — painter.
Visitors' questions
Where is Geneviève Claisse's grave?
In Division 91, Avenue Transversale No. 2, twelfth row, beneath a modern steel sculpture — a rarity at Père-Lachaise, and true to her work. The inscription reads: “Geneviève CLAISSE, artiste peintre, 1935-2018”.
Ivry GitlisWhat was her link with Auguste Herbin?
A family tie and a village: both came from Quiévy, in the north of France. But her vocation came to her from something she read, the magazine Art d'aujourd'hui, in which she discovered geometric abstraction. She exhibited for the first time in 1958, at Cambrai and then in Paris; in 1961 Denise René took her into her gallery.
Carlos Cruz-DiezWhat was her favourite motif?
The circle, from 1964 on: first in Terre-siècle, then in the album of silkscreen prints Cercles of 1967. A vocabulary of pure forms and plain colours, which she held to for more than fifty years without changing it.
Gérard FromangerWas she still working when she died?
She was: she was preparing an exhibition for London when she died, in Dreux, on 30 April 2018. The Matisse museum at Le Cateau-Cambrésis had given her a retrospective three years earlier, in 2015.
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