Michel Négrier (born In 1936) Château De Commarque Eyzies

Michel NÉGRIER
(born in 1936)
Commarque, the forgotten valley
Acrylic on canvas
H. 100 cm; L. 80 cm
Signed lower right, dated 2009. Titled lower left.

Provenance: Artist's studio

During his childhood in the Saint Georges district of Périgueux, Michel Négrier very quickly developed great drawing skills. These capacities that some qualify as passion, he characterizes them as a disease still incurable today at more than 85 years old, while he still holds his pencils for several hours a day. This daily sport was also his profession. In the 1950s, he worked as a draftsman for Editions Fontas in Périgueux, before setting up as a freelancer and carrying out numerous advertising campaigns and illustrations for Périgord merchants. Thereafter, Michel Négrier will work for the advertising agency Havas which will mark his career. Passionate about Périgord and its heritage, the artist created works in gouache or ink from his youth, representing the various villages and unmissable places of Périgord, with a medieval vision. The scenes full of humor and elements borrowed from local history are his trademark, which he still develops today.

Around the years 2005/2010, Michel Négrier produced a series of paintings concerning a few Perigord places. We find there the castle of Herm tormented by the soul of Marguerite de Calvimont, Bourdeilles with many medieval characters and so on. Our view of the fortress of Commarque comes from the fantastic universe of the painter-draughtsman. Here in a world where the stones have a face and where the trees rise in frightening forks towards the sky, this great rocky promontory has a completely different appearance than in reality. Blue night, full and sparkling moon, perched owl are some additional symbols of this mystical valley in the artist's imagination.