This is a fabulous 1960s framed oil painting on canvas by Comte Régis de Bouvier de Cachard.
He came from a noble French family (purportedly a relative of Jackie Kennedy) and was born in Paris in 1929.
At the age of 14 he was the youngest student to ever study at the Ecole Boulle. After graduating he pursued a career designing textiles in Paris where he worked for the Marchesson Textile Studio designing on silk for the Haute Couture. He became one of the top textile designers of Paris for about 10 years.
After a car accident, he took up painting and travelled working internationally as an artist - mainly between London, Venice and New York.
De Cachard arrived in London 1957 where he met Sheila Woods. They were married in Chelsea in 1959 and left almost immediately for the USA, They travelled to New York on the Queen Elizabeth liner and then drove across America to California.
The De Cachard's divided their time between studios in California, New York, and London, Venice, Normandy, and St. Tropez for the next 10 years. In London, he was patronized by the English aristocracy and business tycoons and sold paintings to the Duke of Bedford, Lord Charles and Lady Phillipa Chelsea, Lady Primrose, amongst others.
In his later years, he moved to Somerset and divided his time between painting in Britain and Provance in France. He died in March 2013.
In the 1960s, he was best known for these dark and very stylized cityscape paintings which have details applied thickly with a palette knife and with fine details incised and scraped with a knife or blade into the surface or the end of his brush. Stylistically, many of his works with heavy black outlines and architectural subjects - look like compositions by fellow French artist, Bernard Buffet.
This painting is untitled - but has been signed by Cachard (incised into the actual painted surface) top right-hand corner and below with the date '61 (for 1961). The lettering is very blocky and slightly child-like and matches other signed and inscribed works by him.
The image is typical of his 1960s abstracted city views - here we look along a river towards boats lit up against a dark sky - the swoop down to try and steal fish from the decks - their movements are swift and the sense of movement has been conveyed by the artist by quickly capturing their forms with flicks of thick impasto paint from a palette knife - a building is seen as a silhouette in the background.
The building in the background is difficult to identify and looks a little like the tall towers of Battersea Power Station - so perhaps the artist is drawing the scene from Chelsea Reach.
This is a fine oil painting on canvas - it comes in its original frame. These works are much sought after.
This work is a nice size for display - the frame is 89 x 63 cm. The image size is 75 x 49,5 cm
The artist is represented in the Tate Gallery, London with four of his lithographs. Interestingly he was represented by the Martin Lowitz Gallery of Beverly Hills and his work was collected by Frank Sinatra, Dean Marin, Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, Ramond Burr, and many other Hollywood stars.
A very attractive mid-century painting with an interesting history behind it. Sadly, Cachard's work has become less fashionable in recent times - some of his paintings in the early 1980s were selling for around £ 25,000.
My asking price for this fine 1960s abstract is a fair one which is in excellent vintage condition and ready to hang on your wall.
Sadly, I will be unable to post this work outside of the UK.
He came from a noble French family (purportedly a relative of Jackie Kennedy) and was born in Paris in 1929.
At the age of 14 he was the youngest student to ever study at the Ecole Boulle. After graduating he pursued a career designing textiles in Paris where he worked for the Marchesson Textile Studio designing on silk for the Haute Couture. He became one of the top textile designers of Paris for about 10 years.
After a car accident, he took up painting and travelled working internationally as an artist - mainly between London, Venice and New York.
De Cachard arrived in London 1957 where he met Sheila Woods. They were married in Chelsea in 1959 and left almost immediately for the USA, They travelled to New York on the Queen Elizabeth liner and then drove across America to California.
The De Cachard's divided their time between studios in California, New York, and London, Venice, Normandy, and St. Tropez for the next 10 years. In London, he was patronized by the English aristocracy and business tycoons and sold paintings to the Duke of Bedford, Lord Charles and Lady Phillipa Chelsea, Lady Primrose, amongst others.
In his later years, he moved to Somerset and divided his time between painting in Britain and Provance in France. He died in March 2013.
In the 1960s, he was best known for these dark and very stylized cityscape paintings which have details applied thickly with a palette knife and with fine details incised and scraped with a knife or blade into the surface or the end of his brush. Stylistically, many of his works with heavy black outlines and architectural subjects - look like compositions by fellow French artist, Bernard Buffet.
This painting is untitled - but has been signed by Cachard (incised into the actual painted surface) top right-hand corner and below with the date '61 (for 1961). The lettering is very blocky and slightly child-like and matches other signed and inscribed works by him.
The image is typical of his 1960s abstracted city views - here we look along a river towards boats lit up against a dark sky - the swoop down to try and steal fish from the decks - their movements are swift and the sense of movement has been conveyed by the artist by quickly capturing their forms with flicks of thick impasto paint from a palette knife - a building is seen as a silhouette in the background.
The building in the background is difficult to identify and looks a little like the tall towers of Battersea Power Station - so perhaps the artist is drawing the scene from Chelsea Reach.
This is a fine oil painting on canvas - it comes in its original frame. These works are much sought after.
This work is a nice size for display - the frame is 89 x 63 cm. The image size is 75 x 49,5 cm
The artist is represented in the Tate Gallery, London with four of his lithographs. Interestingly he was represented by the Martin Lowitz Gallery of Beverly Hills and his work was collected by Frank Sinatra, Dean Marin, Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, Ramond Burr, and many other Hollywood stars.
A very attractive mid-century painting with an interesting history behind it. Sadly, Cachard's work has become less fashionable in recent times - some of his paintings in the early 1980s were selling for around £ 25,000.
My asking price for this fine 1960s abstract is a fair one which is in excellent vintage condition and ready to hang on your wall.
Sadly, I will be unable to post this work outside of the UK.