Albert Coste (1895-1985) Surrealist Characters

Albert Coste was a French painter born in Marseille in 1895. His mother, a musician, introduced him to music, which he practiced all his life. In 1909, he attended both the Beaux Arts de Marseille and the Conservatoire de Musique.
A tramway accident in 1916 forced him to have the index and middle fingers of his left hand amputated. He was permanently discharged, and his career as a cellist was compromised. In 1919, he married Paulette Sallé, a concert pianist whom he had met in Marseille. They lived in a studio at Porte de Versailles.

From then on, he took part in numerous group exhibitions and Salons in Paris and Aix-en-Provence, meeting Maurice Denis and frequenting his studio.

In 1922, he settled near Aix, while continuing to take part in the main group exhibitions in Paris (Indépendants, Réalités Nouvelles, Salon d'Automne...).In 1933, in Aix-en-Provence, he had his first solo exhibition, presented by Maurice Denis.

In 1935 he was appointed professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts d'Aix en Provence.

In 1941-42, he met Albert Gleizes in Saint Rémy de Provence and remained deeply involved with him until his death. Gleizes presented an exhibition of his work in 1942 in Aix.

He created numerous decorations for public buildings, particularly the Faculté de Droit in Aix, whose architect was Fernand Pouillon.

In 1953, he took part in a group exhibition with Gleizes, Delaunay, Villon, Herbin, Léger;

in 1967 with Calder, Masson, Messagier.

From 52 to 56 he organized exhibitions to publicize the work of Gleizes and his disciples.

In 1980, he was admitted to the Académie des Sciences, Arts, et Belles-Lettres d'Aix.

He was a painter of great technical skill and a man of great culture, for whom painting, music, which he continued to practice, and poetry gave life its raison d'être.
First painting still lifes and various subjects in a spirit close to Gauguin and the Nabis, he then embarked on the path of abstraction, with compositions very close to Gleizes, then in tune with his general spirit of post-war French abstraction, around Bissière, Manessier and Lapicque.