EMILE BELLET

Emile Bellet was born in Provence, France in 1941. He began to paint at the age of fifteen, and by 1960 he held his first exhibition. In 1976 his career began in earnest when he was noticed by Galerie Guigne. In 1978 he completed the stained glass windows of the church "Notre Dame de Bon Voyage", Our Lady of Happy Travels, in Port de Bouc. He was also commissioned by the Alpine Maritime Region to paint a piece, entitled "Travaux des Champs" or Works in the Fields.

He has held numerous exhibits in France: Grenoble, Aix en Provence, Cannes, Marseille, Lyon and Megeve; and overseas exhibitions in Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Switzerland and Japan. He has permenant exhibits in Cannes, Lyon, Salon-de-Provence, Grenoble, Toulon and Annecy.

He is a self-taught artist who has aligned himself with the discipline of the "Fauvres", or savages -- a school of artists who lived at the turn of the 20th century which included Matisse, Cezanne, Dufy and Vlaminck. They painted in vivid nonauthentic color, and Emile Bellet has mastered this discipline with an impasto knife accentuating this color with the elongated forms of the mannerists.

The familiar female figure used throughout his work is symbolic of his impression of femininity. She represents all women, and for this reason has no facial expression. She is timeless and ageless. She is universal.

Patrice de la Perriere, Director of the Art Review, Univers des Arts says of Bellet:

"The ethereal, red women of Bellet magnificently show themselves in the fragrance of summer light. Whether they are standing near a window opening onto a romantic countryside, or sitting languorously in a comfortable interior, Bellet's women never cease to draw you into a dreamlike world. Their presence undenyably brings a real emotion to the viewer."

Emile Bellet delights in his work as does a peasant in a field of Provence. Both treat their labors with love and respect; and his body of work reflects this feeling.