artist: Alfred Defossez (French b. 1932)
medium: lithograph
dimensions: 29 x 39 cm print size / 31 x 41 cm framed size (approx)
signed limited edition edition 92/150
circa 1960s/70s
* currently being framed in a new thin profile timber shadowbox frame with non-reflective UV glass - due back at the gallery early September, 2025. Photos to follow. If purchased in the meantime we will fulfil your order as soon as this is back at the gallery
AU $660 (approx US $430 / 370 EUROS / 63,000 yen / 320 GBP - for exact current conversion visit xe.com)
artist biography
Alfred Defossez, also known as Freddy Defossez, was born on 11 November 1932 in Paris. He is a French painter and lithographer.
Defossez, began painting at the age of fifteen before entering the Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied under Pierre Jérôme. In 1956 he was admitted to the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, working with Roger Chapelain-Midy, Pierre-Henri Ducos de La Haille and Boris Taslitzky. The following year he was selected for the prestigious Jeune Peinture (Young Painting) Prize.
Deeply inspired by “the light of summer,” Defossez often draws upon the poetic imagery of Arthur Rimbaud to describe his artistic vision: a countryside traversed by “bands of rare music.” His paintings and lithographs balance a lyrical attachment to nature with a strong sense of structure and coluor, creating works that oscillate between atmosphere and form.
Throughout his career Defossez exhibited widely in France and abroad, with solo presentations at galleries in Paris, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Metz, Cannes, Florence, Caracas, Los Angeles, and at institutions including Stanford University and the Musée de Saint-Dié. Major retrospectives include Alfred Defossez – Paris-sur-Seine at Galerie Guigné (1988) and a retrospective in Seillans (2003). His work has also been shown internationally in group exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, Monaco, Tokyo, Kyoto, New York, and Fort-de-France.
Defossez was awarded First Prize at the Montrouge Salon in 1968 and the International Gemmail Prize in Tours in 1974. His works are represented in public collections such as the Département des Estampes et de la Photographie of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
After many years in Paris, Defossez later settled in Seillans, in the Var, where he continued to live and work.