Pierre Ambrogiani (1907-1985) The Saint Peter

Verging on bas-relief, this oil on canvas is almost sculptural in its sheer volume of paint.
The fish appears to have been placed directly on the canvas.
Only Pierre Ambrogiani is capable of such a masterful use of paint and audacity while remaining figurative, with a finesse of execution that renders this Saint Peter more lifelike than life itself.
The oil on canvas is presented in a simple frame measuring 91.5 cm by 70.5 cm, while the canvas alone measures 81 cm by 60 cm.
In good condition, it depicts Saint Peter clinging to a fishhook.
A powerful painting, signed directly in the paint in the upper right corner, that leaves no one indifferent.

A self-taught artist, influenced by Seyssaud and Chabaud, he was encouraged in his early days by Antoine Serra, who lent him his studio. In 1936, at the inauguration of the Maison de la Culture in Marseille, he met Picasso, who became one of his friends (the 1962 Homage to Picasso). A caricaturist for the newspaper "Le Radical," he achieved his first success in 1938 when the Marseille Museum of Fine Arts purchased one of his works. A very popular and particularly colorful figure in Marseille, Pierre Ambrogiani was a friend of Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono.
His studio was located on Cours d'Estienne d'Orves, near the Old Port. He traveled the countryside in his car, which served as his mobile studio, painting en plein air.
He moved into a studio on Quai Rive Neuve in Marseille in 1943.
Renowned for his vibrant palette, he painted landscapes of the South of France and still lifes of fish.
He also engraved numerous plates to illustrate books.
In 1962, he decorated the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Marseille with frescoes and stained glass windows.
He designed a postage stamp, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, in 1961.
Forced by illness and infirmity to stop painting in 1973, Pierre Ambrogiani died in 1985 and was buried in the Saint-Pierre cemetery in Marseille.
His body was later transferred to the cemetery in Sault, Vaucluse.

Works in Public Collections:

Ajaccio, Palais Fesch (Museum of Fine Arts), Self-Portrait;
Avignon, Calvet Museum;
Châlons-en-Champagne, Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology: The Port, The Marquisans;
Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Arteum Museum of Contemporary Art;
Marseille, Museum of Fine Arts: Boats;
Marseille, Cantini Museum.
Marseille, Regards de Provence Museum.
Meudon, Museum of Art and History: The Old Port of Marseille, 1953.
Montpellier, Fabre Museum. Paris, Prints Department of the National Library of France.
Paris, National Museum of Modern Art.
Pully, Museum of Art. Saint-Chamas,
Paul-Lafran Municipal Museum, Portrait of René Seyssaud, 1950.
Saint-Cyprien (Pyrénées-Orientales), The Saint-Cyprien Collections.
Sète, Paul-Valéry Museum, Bord du Jarret, 1944.
Toulon, Museum of Art.
Toulouse, National Institute of Applied Sciences.

Group Exhibitions: Marseille Cultural Center, 1936.
Autumn Salon, Paris, 1937.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1948.
Exhibition of bullfighting art presented by the Pena de Bernui, Society of Southern Artists, Toulouse Arts Center, 1956.
Salon of Painters Witnessing Their Time, Palais Galliera, Paris, 1957 (theme: Sport; painting presented: Water Skiing).
1961 (theme: Riches of France; painting presented: The Grain Does Not Die), 1963, 1967, 1974.
Mediterranean Seascapes and Ports, Regards de Provence Foundation, Marseille, May-September 2009.
Corsican Painters, Lazaret Ollandini, Ajaccio, October-November 2012.
Colors and Lights, The Saint-Cyprien Collections, June-August 2017.
Mediterranean Stopovers, Regards de Provence Museum, Marseille, June 2017 - January 2018.
A as in Ambrogiani, B as in Baboulène, C as in Camoin, or the Painters of the Mediterranean, Pierre-Puget Hall, Ollioules, November 2017.
Awards and Distinctions: Menton International Prize, 1951.
Officer of the Order of Postal Merit, decree of December 17, 1963.
Grand Prize of the Salon of Painters Witnessing Their Time, 1967, for the painting The Death of the Poet.
Gemmail Prize for "Painter of Light," Tours, 1968, for the painting Procession in Spain