Michel Delacroix
진정한 French Original 인 Michel Delacroix 는, 비록 프랑스인이 아니라 하더라도 오늘날 전 세계 사람들로부터 많은 사랑을 받고 있는 작가 중 한 명입니다.
그는, 1933년 Paris의 Arrondissement 에서 태어나, Ecole des Beaux Arts 에서 전문 미술교육을 받았으며, 그가 나서 자라고 현재까지 살고 있는 마치 마법과도 같은 도시 파리의 구석구석을 50년 이라는 긴 세월에 걸쳐 <그 시절의 PARIS> 라는 이름으로 표현해 냈으며, 그의 온 생애를 그 작품 활동에 헌신 하였습니다.
삶의 아름다운 순간들을 꿈과 같이 담아낸 그의 작품 속에서 우리는 ‘時적인 과거의 시간들’과 조우하게 됩니다.
PARIS는 시간을 초월하여 아름다운 곳이지만, 그의 작품 안에서 다시 만나게 되는 파리는 보다 특별하게 다가오며, 진정한 <PARIS의 즐거움>을 다시 한번 느끼게 해 줍니다.
이상적이면서도 평범하고, 동시에 고요함과 평화로움이 가득한 그의 작품에는 낭만이 가득 차 흐르고 있으며, 무엇보다 보는 이로 하여금 유년시절을 떠올리게 하는 특별한 힘을 가지고 있습니다. 그는 이러한 그의 작품들로
Prix Public (Prix Pro art, Morges, Switzerland.1973), Grand Prix des Amateurs d’Art (Paris.1976), the Grand prix de la Cote d’Azur (Canne. 1976) the Primire Prix de Sept Collines (Rome.1976) 을 포함해 셀 수 없이 많은 상을 받았습니다.
Michel Delacroix는 파리의 Fond National d’Art 에 참여하여, 그 공로로 프랑스 정부로부터 “현대 예술가 작위“ 를 수여 받았습니다.
그의 작품들은 Musee International d’Art Naif 와 Fondation Max Fourny in Paris 를 비롯한 세계의 여러 개인 박물관에 소장되어 있습니다.
Michel Delacroix is truly a French original: an acclaimed master of the naïf tradition and one of the most popular artists in the world today. A self-styled “painter of dreams and of the poetic past,” Delacroix has devoted five decades to painting a city he calls “the Paris of then,” the magical place where he was born, where he spent his boyhood, and where he continues to live to this date.
Yet the Paris Delacroix paints, is not the urban metropolis of the present. It is the dream-like place the city became in the 1940’s, during the Occupation, when “we suddenly jumped fifty years into the past. No more cars in the streets, very few lights. Paris suddenly became very quiet, very dark, and though people were afraid, there was a brotherhood and spirit that was very delightful.” For Delacroix, who was then a child of seven and spared by his age from understanding “the cruelties and absurdities” of war, it was “the one great adventure of my life.”
And it is to this special Paris – a Paris of by-gone years and innocent splendors – that Delacroix has returned to over and over again in his gentle works. These works, renowned for their graceful balance of “the earthy and the urban, the cosmic and the ordinary,” have captivated private collectors, museums and ordinary people alike throughout the world, earning the artist both universal acclaim and numerous awards.
In the U.S. alone, Delacroix’s work has been featured in over 300 solo exhibitions from New York, Boston and Washington, to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Abroad, his work has been exhibited throughout Europe and Japan, and forms part of the permanent collections of the Musée International d’Art Naïf and the Fondation Max Fourny in Paris – and of private collections around the globe.
In 1994, Michel Delacroix was selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee to be an Official Artist of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games and commissioned to paint three works. Two of the works became Official Posters of the historic Games and the third, the Cover Art for The Sound of the Games, the Official five-CD box set of the 1996 Games, which featured Gloria Estefan’s theme song, “Reach.” Further honors followed a year later when Delacroix was named the Official Artist of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games and was joined for the unveiling of his commissioned work, ‘Sport. Spirit. Splendor.’, by Caroline Kennedy.
In the fall of 1996, Michel Delacroix took part in a three-month, coast-to-coast U.S. tour of his work. Organized by his exclusive publisher Axelle Fine Arts, in association with galleries nationwide, the tour took Delacroix to major galleries from New York to Seattle for important solo exhibitions of his acclaimed artwork.
Following the tour, a Delacroix painting, ‘The Paris I Love’ (Le Paris que J’aime) was selected to be the Official Image of Artexpo New York 1997. Inspired by Artexpo New York 1997’s theme of Love, the work was used to create a special limited edition, as well as the Official Poster and Catalog Cover Art for the event. 1997 was also the beginning of his long collaboration with Montecristo Cigars. Each year since then, Michel has been commissioned to create an image for the cigar collection. To date, eight beautiful paintings have been used to grace the covers of their cigar boxes and humidors.
In 2002, Michel was commissioned to create, Noel de Paix à Washington, the signature image for the White House’s Christmas Pageant of Peace. The limited edition serigraph was hugely successful and sold out immediately. Michel was honored with another milestone the following February, celebrating his 70th birthday, with the release of a new hardcover book, Once Upon a Time in Paris. Today Michel continues to paint and spends his time in Paris and Cambodia with his wife, Vany. He maintains a very simple life and enjoys his children and grandchildren.
Grand Paris – 44×24 (110x60cm)
Michel Delacroix_Rue de l_Arbre-sec_Acrylic on Board_38x46cm
Michel Delacroix_ Sauves_17x24.13cm_Acrylic on board_2016
Michel Delacroix_Nuit d hiver rue Bobillot_Acrylic on Board_105.x14cm
Place Dauphine, soir de neige (40x40cm)
Chiens perdus ands la neige 27x22cm
La Coupole, Blvd du Montparnasse 72x60cm
