Jean Maxime Relange
Began painting at the Académie Julian and was awarded the Grand Prix Julian. Numerous murals and official acquisitions in France and abroad. Guest of honour at the Salon Blanc in Tokyo. President of the Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l'Eau. Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.«Do not destroy your first paintings; later they will become the evidence of the road you have followed…. Remain yourself, listen to your instinct, to your inspiration, to your pleasure!… To paint is a majestic undertaking.
It turns you into a man who has accounts to render to no one, except to yourself.»
Extract from his book « De l'Inspiration à l'Oeuvre Peinte » published by Ulisseditions
Anne Le Cleac'h
President of the Fine Arts Group of Raincy Villemomble. Professor at the Académie de Port Royal (Paris). Official Painter of the French Army. Prix Alix Lemarchand (French Artists), Prix Gabriel-Zendel (Taylor Foundation), Prix du Président (Salon Blanc, Tokyo).«Paint...not the picture...but what is in between, the intermediary, the interstice...Serving the synthesis, searching to translate the tremor of life and its profound breath!
An extraordinary venture!»
Dina Pickard
British-born, Dina Pickard studied at St-Martin's School of Art (London) and the Académie Julian (Paris). Grand Prix Antral, Prix Monique-Corpet, Prix de la Monnaie de Paris, Grand Prix Gabriel-Zendel. Exhibits in France and abroad.« From the prehistoric cave paintings at Lascaux until the present day, the artist remains a «witness to his day and age”… When you were at school perhaps you scribbled strange arabesques and abstract doodles in the margins of your maths book. You little thought that in these embryonic compositions was the profile of a creator. Then one day you pushed open the door of an art studio…” (Extract from the catalogue “Thirty Years at the Académie de Port-Royal”).»
Catherine Gaillard Perez
From my point of view Painting is synonym of life – a journey along which one tries to approach something in an attempt to turn everything into one.
From my years spent at the Académie de Port-Royal I have essentially cultivated a learning to look, to see…..above all to apprehend the art of drawing and painting.
To learn to see, one should forget what one knows in order to constantly discover or re-discover with humility and sincerity subjects such as the still-life or working from the human figure.
Analyzing each object, elements of nature or human beings with a new eye, trying to capture their force and energy and trying to translate with a new energy named line and color.
It needs patience not to want to advance too fast and give in to any easy conclusions or to be satisfied and comforted with one’s results… the road is not necessary a straightforward one.
It is only when the eye is trained that things begin to develop. The route cannot be taken backwards: rigor, rigor… then one day… more easiness ! When one’s personal view expands one should not believe one has “got there”. Your journey has no visible end – that is what gives it it’s mystery and it’s beauty.
On the road to Painting, let’s take care to permanently keep our eyes open to life. Let’s keep intact our curiosity and the faculty to be touched and moved by the infinity of the existence surrounding us.
Catherine Gaillard-Perez
