The Rialto Bridge (venice) - Watercolor And Gouache On Paper (1966) Signed Michel Terrasse

Venice night scene, depicting the Rialto Bridge in 1966. The work is signed and dated lower right. It is also signed on the back. The same subject appears on the poster for Michel Terrasse's exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune (Paris, 6th arrondissement) in May 1975 (see photo). Dimensions: 32 x 50 cm

Michel Terrasse was Pierre Bonnard's grandnephew and the twin brother of Antoine Terrasse (critic and art historian). He was a painter, theater decorator and book illustrator. A precocious painter, he held his first exhibition at the age of 15. His passion for the circus and dance led him to attend La Sylvaine, a classical dance school in Fontainebleau, from the age of 18, where he worked as a draughtsman and painter. That same year, he illustrated Alain Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes. At the age of 20, he was entrusted with the only illustrated edition of Colette's poem L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. He also illustrated texts by Maupassant and Verlaine. From the age of 25, he designed sets for the Opéra-Comique and the La Bruyère theater. By composing the sets for Colette and Ravel, he became the youngest decorator at the Paris Opera. He exhibited his work in several galleries, including the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris, the Wildenstein Gallery in London and New York, the Musée de l'Athénée in Geneva, as well as in San Francisco and Tokyo.