Claude Viallat

Claude Viallat, born 1936 in Nîmes, is a contemporary French painter. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montpellier from 1955 to 1959, then at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1962-1963, in Raymond Legueult's studio.

In 1966, Viallat adopted a process based on the use of prints, marking a radical break with lyrical and geometric abstraction with the so-called All-over technique. He repeats a neutral form, neither natural nor geometric, on a free, stretcherless canvas, thus determining the composition of his works. In 1969, he became a founding member of the Supports/Surfaces group, a movement that challenged the traditional conventions of painting.

In addition to the growing success of his exhibitions in France, notably at the Centre Pompidou in 1982, and abroad, such as at the Venice Biennale in 1988, Claude Viallat also devoted himself to teaching. He has taught at several art schools, including Nice, Limoges, Marseille, Nîmes (where he was director for many years), and finally at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

More recently, his work was exhibited at the Maison Triolet Aragon in 2022 and at the Carré d'art in Nîmes in 2023. His approach to painting is akin to the practice of Chinese calligraphy, where the harmony of the resulting forms is also a gestural harmony. To paint, Viallat crouches over his supports, transforming this gesture into genuine creative gymnastics.

Over the past four decades, Viallat has held more than four hundred solo exhibitions worldwide, not counting group shows. He also took part in several editions of the Venice Biennale (1980, 1984, 1988). His technique of imprinting on canvas is as much a process of printing motifs as a positional motor for the painter's body, akin to the gesture of Jackson Pollock or the Navajo artists creating sand paintings.

Now retired, Claude Viallat continues his exploratory research, leaving an indelible mark on the contemporary art world with his unique and innovative approach to painting.