Roger-Edgar Gillet (b. 1924-2004, Paris)

Born in 1924 in Paris, Roger-Edgar Gillet lived between Paris, Sens and the Saint-Malo region, where he died in 2004. A graduate of the École Boulle and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Roger-Edgar Gillet first worked as a decorator before devoting himself to painting. Very early on he was defended by Michel Tapié and Charles Estienne, and was part of a post-war generation of French painters, that of the Seconde École de Paris, and distinguished himself by a practice ranging from lyrical abstraction to expressionist figuration in the vein of Jean Fautrier, Paul Rebeyrolle and Jean Dubuffet.

Roger-Edgar Gillet has also been the subject of major institutional exhibitions in France and abroad: Gillet-Dodeigne at the Musée Galliera (1971, Paris), Retrospective at the CNAP (1987, Paris), La Marche des oubliés at the Centre d’art contemporain de Saint-Priest (1989), Roger-Edgar Gillet, Cinquante ans de peinture at the Musée du Palais Synodal (1999, Sens), Je Garderai un Excellent Souvenir de vous ! at the Musée Estrine (2005, Saint-Rémy de Provence), Un Regard at the Centre d’art contemporain du Parc Caillebotte (2009, Yerres), Exercices de survie, œuvres graphiques at the Musée du Mont de Piété (2017, Bergues); and in the United States, March of the forgotten at the University of Oklahoma Museum and Stéphane Janssen Collection at the Scottsdale Arts Centre (1990).

More recently, Roger-Edgar Gillet’s work has been presented in the exhibitions Construire une collection at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes and De Tiépolo à Richterat the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Bruxelles in 2018; as well as Recent Acquisitions of the Cabinet d’art graphique in 2018 and Galeries du XXe siècle in 2019 at the Centre Pompidou. Roger-Edgar Gillet was also awarded the Prix Fénéon in 1954 and the Catherwood Prize in 1955.

Gillet’s work is included in collections such as Abbaye d’Auberive, Auberive; Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP), Paris; Fondation du roi Baudoin, Neirynck Collection, Mons; LAAC – Lieu d’Art et Action Contemporanie, Musées de Dunkerque, Dunkirk; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon; Mysée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes;  Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen; Musée Estrine, Saint Rémy de Provence; Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou, Paris; Musée Paul Valéry, Sète; Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Musée de Sens, Sens; Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille; Oslo Museum, Oslo; SACEM, Le Grand Orchestre, Mural realized in 1978, Paris; and SMAK – Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent.