Mixed Media By Eliane Larus

Eliane Larus was born in Le Pin in the Deux-Sèvres department. She was bored at the middle school in Bressuire, where she was placed in the math track even though she was passionate about French. She took refuge in reading and showed an interest in drawing at a very early age. In that subject, she ranked first in the department on the BEPC exam. It wasn’t until her sophomore year of high school that she received proper instruction from an art teacher. She was determined to attend the École des Beaux-Arts, but her father, concerned for her future, insisted that she complete her high school diploma.

In 1963, she enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Tours, where she graduated in 1967. She then entered the painting program in Gustave Singier’s studio at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, from which she graduated in 1969. Eliane Larus married Michael Lecomte, a writer, in 1970; their son Alexis was born in 1967. She set up her studio in the 13th arrondissement and held her first solo exhibition at the cultural center on Rue Mouffetard, where her work was noticed by Marie-Odile Briot, curator of the Museum of Modern Art. This led to the acquisition of a painting for the museum’s collections. Other works were subsequently acquired by the National Fund for Contemporary Art through the inspectors for Artistic Creation, Alberte Grynpas-N’guyen and Jean-Pierre Poggi.

From 1968 to 1978, she taught drawing classes in Paris public schools, where she guided her students toward creativity and spontaneity rather than realism and technical precision. Through their drawings, she discovered freedom and poetry, which would later shape her own artistic expression. In 1970, she first caught the attention of art critics Jean-Jacques Lévêque and Patrick d’Elme, who selected her for the “Plate-Forme des Jeunes” exhibition organized by the magazine *Galerie des Arts* (a group exhibition at the Vercamer Gallery in Paris). From that year onward, she participated in major art shows: Salon de Mai, Jeune Peinture, Jeune Sculpture, Réalités nouvelles, Grands et Jeunes d’aujourd’hui, Comparaisons, Figuration Critique, Salon de Montrouge, and Salon de Vitry.

Eliane Larus was particularly interested in the Cobra movement, as well as Picasso, Paul Klee, and Miró, whom she discovered in Parisian museums. In 1974, she was deeply struck by Jean Dubuffet’s collection of Art Brut. She was struck by the inventive frenzy of these singular artists. Her approach to painting was profoundly shaken, and she began to question the traditional training she had received at the École des Beaux-Arts. For three years, she focused on drawing and developed a vocabulary of elementary forms reminiscent of “primitive” art and children’s drawings, which would lead her toward a non-conventional, liberated style of figurative art through which she would find her identity.

In 1980 and 1981, she corresponded with Jean Dubuffet, who warmly encouraged her. It was then that she discovered the L’Œil de Boeuf gallery, directed by Ceres Franco, which showcased painters such as Corneille, Macréau, Chaibia, and others. She participated in several group exhibitions at this gallery and held her first solo exhibition there in 1983 with support from the Ministry of Culture. In this unique venue, she met the art critics Gérard Xuriguera, Pierre Brisset, and Jean-Marie Drot. She founded the small group Pixture in 1982 with the painters Lacoste, Nitkowski, Pauzié, and others. For the first time, “unique” artists were featured at the Salon de la Jeune Peinture.

Following the FIAC in October 1984 with the L’Œil de Bœuf gallery, opportunities for exhibitions abroad began to take shape. In 1985, she exhibited at the Atrium Gallery in Stockholm; in 1989, at the Svetlana Gallery in Munich; and subsequently participated in exhibitions in Aarhus, Denmark; Ghent, Belgium; Amsterdam; Barcelona; and elsewhere. From 1983 to 2002, she regularly exhibited her work in Parisian galleries: Galerie A.A., L’Œil de Bœuf Gallery, J.-P. Christophe Gallery, Flak Gallery, Bercovy-Fugier Gallery, Gallery 15, Claude Lemand Gallery, Claudine Lustman Gallery, and Lefor-Openo Gallery; and in the provinces: Galerie de Bécheron, Saché, and Galerie Capazza in Nançay. She also participates in international contemporary art fairs abroad.