BIOGRAPHY - Raymond Thibesart (1874 - 1968)

Raymond Thibésart was a French painter known for his landscapes. Born in Bar-sur-Aube, about 150 miles southeast of Paris, Thibésart grew up in the French countryside surrounded by vineyards. His family moved to the suburbs north of Paris, where Thibésart began to show artistic talent, studying at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian. He studied under Jules Lefebvre and Tony Robert-Fleury, but also was greatly influenced by the Italian-Venezuelan impressionist painter Emilio Boggio. He, Boggio, and Henri Martin formed a deep friendship, often working and traveling together throughout Western Europe. Thibésart often created quick sketches with pastels en plein air before transferring these ideas to the canvas in his studio. This way, his subjects lost none of their original color and dynamism.

In 1897, Thibésart became a member of the Société des Artistes Français. He had his work exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Indépendants, and many of Paris’s prominent galleries, including Knoedler and Georges Petit. Though not a native of Normandy, Thibésart is sometimes grouped with the École Normande, an extension of the more famous École de Rouen. These were northern French painters who drew inspiration from impressionism, post-impressionism, Fauvism, Georges Seurat’s pointillism, and, later, cubism and expressionism.

Thibésart would also see his work exhibited at galleries in Britain and the United States during his lifetime. In 1966, at 92, he began losing his vision and had to stop painting. He would pass away two years later in 1968.