Sans titre, 1994

Pierre Célice   Master Artists

Pierre Celice was born in 1932 in Paris, the son of a lawyer, he began studying law, but very quickly turned to drawing and painting. Under the primary influence of Henri Hayden, whom he describes as his master, his plastic work is first of all figurative.

He had his first successes between 1950 and 1960 during exhibitions which took place in particular at the Simone Badinier gallery. Very quickly, however, his figuration becomes more and more synthetic, while color gradually takes on an increasingly essential place. He composes new paintings made exclusively of lines and colors, abstraction lays down its milestones, but does not impose itself yet...

In the early 1970s, Pierre Célice worked in Peter Bramsen's lithography studio, which brought together the international artists of Cobra. He becomes acquainted with the work of Bram Van Velde, Pierre Alechinsky, Asger Jorn, Karel Appel etc. Attending this workshop naturally leads him to completely break with figuration.

Nevertheless, progress in this new approach is tough. Pierre Célice hesitates about his work and his artistic line. Finished works do not respond to vision. He burned and destroyed several years of painting, dissatisfied with his work and only found himself in agreement with his work towards the end of the 70s. In 1982, he moved back to Paris and took part in several group exhibitions.

Since then, many exhibitions have been organized around his work in France and abroad.

Pierre Célice died on April 5, 2019 in Paris.