Abstract print, 2024 red Clown Rare Color Abstract Harlequin JESTER ART PRINT, portrait, lithograph by artist Pierre Bosco, antique, clown poster

VINTAGE RARE COLOR HARLEQUIN JESTER ART PRINT PORTRAIT BY ARTIST PIERRE BOSCO

26 x 20 inches

not framed

Pierre Bosco, (1909- a member of the famous Italian Della Rovere family, was born in Visco, the province of Udine in Italy. At an early age, he develops an interest in art, His ever growing interest in paintings takes him to Genoa and then Rome where he becomes a religious paintings restorator, learning the secret techniques of the great masters of Art. His early works already show a natural sensitivity to color and a willingness to give volume to images, which will become his artistic signature.
When he first discovers paintings of Cézanne, Pissarro, Gauguin and Rouault, he is convinced that his future is in Paris, where the "bohemian" lifestyle attracts painters and sculptors from around the world. At twenty-two he decides to leave his native Italy and move to Saint-Germain-en-Laye where he attends diligently the schools and painting workshops of the capital. He meets his neighbor, Maurice Denis, and then some of the most well-known artists such as Pierre Bonnard, André Derain, Aristide Maillol, Edouard Vuillard and his brother-in-law, the Nabi painter Ker-Xavier Roussel, who becomes his great spiritual master and with whom he will discover his own artistic personality.
The war years are difficult years for the artist. In 1940 he befriends the painter André Marchand and manages to make a living by selling occasionally and with the help from his family. However, he has his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1943 at the Galerie Roussel, boulevard Saint-Germain, but continues to pursue his work austerely in the silence of his studio. When his father dies in 1945, the painter returns to Italy to be with his family for some time after fifteen years of absence. After this homecoming, he returns to Paris in 1946, painting and making a living as an art restorator.
He finally gains success and recognition in the fifties. He creates in Saint-Germain-en-Laye the Independent Painters' Association (API) which gathers painters like Jean Souverbie, Roger Chastel, the Vera brothers, Clave, Gomery and Edoardo Samartino. After participating in the first Biennale del Mare in Genoa, he exhibits his work at the Gallery Vivet in Paris in 1952. In 1953 he participates in the Third Sacred Art Exhibition at the Paris Museum of Modern Art where his painting Descent from the Cross receives high praise. The following year he exhibits fifty paintings at the Galerie du Hérisson in Saint-Germain-en-Laye to an enthralled public, especially Pierre Seghers – a well-known poet and publisher.
The French press associates the paintings of this period to “bewitching magic”. On the occasion of this exhibition, Bosco meets the poet Guy Lavaud. According to him, Bosco is a powerful painter and a visionary. For three consecutive years the painter is selected for the prestigious Otto Friez price at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. In 1955, the Gallery M. Forein in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré invites Bosco for an abstract art exhibition. After careful thought, he refuses to participate. At a time when abstract art emerges into the School of Paris, influencing young painters like Alfred Manessier, Pierre Tal Coat, Jean Bazaine and many others, Bosco experiences pure abstraction but he realizes that he ends up making more or less the same paintings with this form of art. For an artist in search of new experiences, abstract art is "an easy way to be locked in a system". However, abstract art will continue to be part of his work but mainly in his works on paper. In 1956 Bosco meets Alex Maguy, a famous collector and owner of the Galerie de l'Elysée. The forty-five years old painter has reached a maturity that is appreciated by a large public of art connoisseurs. He signs a contract that binds him to this art dealer for fifteen years, then prepares a major exhibition for the following year.
The press is unanimous, praising his "dazzling visions". Robert Vrinat, journalist for Le Figaro newspaper, considers him "as one of the greatest painters of his generation". Americans even see him as "the latest Picasso in perspective, and very much in vogue" (New York Herald, May 14, 1957) In 1957, Bosco is well known to the affluent elite of the French capital. He appears in numerous laudatory articles written by famous poets like Pierre Seghers, Jean Cocteau and Marcel Sauvage - who will dedicate a poem to him – including the French poet and novelist Henri Bosco, and the journalist and writer Louis Nucéra.
Bosco's works of art stands among those of the biggest names in contemporary painting: Chagall, Braque, Picasso, Matisse, etc. This collaboration opens new doors to him: he participates in radio shows; his paintings enter permanent collections of museums. Once introduced to the American Jewish community, Bosco attracts financiers, lawyers, actors and film producers.
The exhibition at the Matarasso Gallery in Nice attests to his success in Paris. In 1959 the Marquis de Langle, an art collector, organizes an exhibition at the Galerie Di Meo in Paris, gathering writers, diplomats and high-ranking officers. On this occasion Bosco meets his Royal Highness the Prince of Greece and the Duke of Broglie. In 1960, the artist marries Madeleine Poire and both travel to New York for their honeymoon and to attend a major exhibition at the Norval Gallery where all his usual collectors have gathered for the occasion. The New York Herald Tribune praises the event. Thanks to this success the painter extends his honeymoon in the Northeastern United States. After his return from the US, from January 28 to February 16, 1961,1n 1961 the Athénée museum in Geneva devotes a major exhibition to him. Private collectors including Joseph H. Hirschhorn, a wealthy American industrialist and art collector who made 2024 several acquisitions. We can also find Bosco's paintings in the private collection of celebrities such as the American actor Kirk Douglas – who acquired seven paintings (among them an Harlequin and a Regatta), Robert Mitchum, Jack Palance, Lord Beaverbrook (Sir Winston Churchill's friend and confident), former French President Georges Pompidou, as well as singers and sportsmen.
Bosco prepares a major solo exhibition in 1963 that is a great success. On this occasion several newspapers such as Le Figaro, Libération, l'Humanité and Paris-Presse publish laudatory articles. In the literary magazine Carrefour, the author states: The savage art of Bosco bear its rudeness and its mystery. It is an art of pure expression that is not made to please, of course, but whose sincerity cannot do anything but capture your attention.
Similarly, in Les Lettres Françaises literary magazine, it is written that "Bosco's paintings are filled with a mysterious atmosphere, a tragic expressionism”. In 1964 he exhibits at the Max Bodner gallery in New York; his paintings are presented among those of Marie Laurencin, Picasso, Signac, Pissarro, Renoir and Rouault. From At the end of April, he exhibits at the Galerie du Carlton in Cannes. The following year, he presents forty recent works at the Wamper Gallery in Cologne (Germany). In April 1967 Bosco is awarded the Silver Medal of the City of Paris and in June he is made Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (a distinguished award from the French Ministry of Culture). Stéphane, his third son, was born that year. The end of the decade is marked by European exhibitions at the Gallery Il Tibbio in Trieste (Italy) and at the Corner Gallery in London. In 1971 he holds a major exhibition at the gallery La Belle Gabrielle. In early 1986, the artist creates a mural, a car race, in the lobby of the Bendix Research Plant in Drancy. In the fall of 1986, he exhibits four paintings in the Hippodrome of Longchamp for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the French prestigious horse race.