Recloses, 1975
Roger Forissier

Roger Forissier, born June 26, 1924 in Feurs (Loire), and died in 2003 in Recloses, is a French painter and engraver. Son of a father who was director of steelworks, Roger Forissier grew up in Lyon and spent his youth in the district of La Guillotière, on the left bank of the Rhône. His parents envisioned a brilliant career for him in Saint-Cyr, but Roger Forissier takes drawing lessons once a week by the Lyon painter Pierre Combet-Descombes (1885-1966). Then, he attended the Lycée Ampère, ranked first in the drawing course where he painted La Classe de dessin, gouache with which he obtained a national prize in 1937 and the encouragement of his teacher, Mr Bousquet. In 1942, he entered the National School of Fine Arts in Lyon in the studio of Antoine Chartres (1905-1968), and divided his time between haymaking, harvests, harvests and his lessons, especially trying to 'escape the Compulsory Labor Service. He also leads his classmates in the creation of a small theater troupe and musical activities including Mick Micheyl. Faced with these facts, two of his teachers, the painter Jacques Laplace (1890-1955), having noticed the quality of his work, and the painter René Chancrin (1911-1981) allowed him to complete his school cycle in two years instead four years. At the Liberation, he was in the Red Cross. To perfect his knowledge of modeling and learn fresco, he worked for a year and a half with the sculptor Louis Bertola (1891-1973). In 1947, he moved to Paris where he passed the entrance exam to the National School of Fine Arts. Maurice Boitel, who left for Algeria, gave him his studio at 24 rue Bonaparte. Roger Forissier then moved to the Villa des Lyonnais, at no 18 rue Ledion in the 14th arrondissement. He studied the fresco with Pierre-Henri Ducos de La Haille (1889-1972), visited the studio of Nicolas Untersteller (1900-1967) and joined the studio of Jean Dupas (1882-1964). René Béhéret, a print merchant who sells a few small canvases of the pupils of the neighboring school, allows Forissier to sell his first painting. He founded Le Groupe des Lyonnais, a group that dissolved in 1955. He held his main exhibition on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris with six exhibitors from Lyon. Édouard Herriot wrote the preface to the catalog brochure. Figurative painter, Roger Forissier is one of the Young painters of the New School of Paris grouped together at the Salon de la Jeune Peinture with Bernard Buffet, Jean-Pierre Alaux, Jean Joyet, Maurice Boitel, Jean Jansem, Michel Henry, Pierre-Henry, Monique Journod , André Vignoles, Jean-Pierre Pophillat, Xavier Valls etc. He met the painter, engraver, critic and art historian Jean-Eugène Bersier (1895-1978) at the Salon d'Automne in 1951. He recommended that he go paint in Holland for his lights. From 1951 to 1952, he lived at Villa Descartes in Amsterdam where he was fascinated by landscapes. The same year, he becomes laureate of the Casa de Velazquez, and he leaves for Madrid where he will meet the contrasts of the lights and the colors of Spain, from 1952 to 1953. He becomes a member of the Henri Boitiat Academy chaired by his friend Paul Ambille. In Morocco, he resumed the watercolor technique and produced many travel diaries. In October 1954, he married the artist-painter Nathalie Chabrier when he had just obtained a plastic arts grant from the State. They reside in the city of Montmartre-aux-Artistes, at 189 rue Ordener in the 18th arrondissement of Paris and exhibit together in 1956 after having painted in the Rouergue. In 1962 and 1964, he painted in the South of France, towards Saint-Raphaël and Menton, and in Bargemon alongside his friend, the poet Marcel Sauvage. He met the Marie-Claire Alain organization which asked him in 1972 to exhibit paintings at the Saint-Donat festival, in the Drôme region. In 1964, he met Jean Cocteau. A car accident leaves him with irreversible consequences that gradually make him lose his hearing faculties. He moved into a workshop in Recloses in the forest of Fontainebleau. He painted in Saint-Mammès, on the banks of the Seine and the Loing, in Chailly, Barbizon and Bourron-Marlotte. From 1965 to 1970, he will paint in Amsterdam and in the south of Morocco. He exhibits in Switzerland. Dunoyer de Segonzac bought her a watercolor in 1969 and Albert Marquet's widow invited her to come and work in her husband's studio at 25 quai des Grands-Augustins in Paris. Her mother died in 1980 and, in 1981, the Forissier couple moved to New York. He would come back to it several times. During his first trip, he will paint about twenty large canvases there. He toured the major cities of the United States and visited the province of Quebec. He returned to work in New York in 1982-1984. He organized a tribute to Robert Humblot (1907-1962) at the Salon de Fontainebleau in 1985. He was a member of the Académie de Rabelais and president of the “École de Moret” association which organized the annual Salon of Fontainebleau. He is named Knight of Arts and Letters. Roger Forissier painted several thousand paintings including a very large proportion of landscapes, still lifes and portraits. He died in 2003 in his house in Recloses where a commemorative plaque was affixed in tribute in 2005 by the Municipality.