Roger Louis Chavanon was born in 1937. Having studied fine arts, the artist embraced every aspect of art, creating work as a painter, engraver, sculptor, and medallist. Refusing to conform to any specific trend, his corpus exhibits an assumed classicism while affirming a degree of modernity.
Drawing remains the key technique at the core of Chavanon’s creative process. His lines, personal and immediately recognisable, give rhythm to the paintings, revealing their colour and giving them structure. The result is an expressionist image, created with an emotional calligraphy.
The female figure is central to Chavanon’s art. Sensual, animalistic, powerful, its portrayals are ambiguous and plentiful. Gesture is virtuous, both in depiction and the depicted, yet synthetic, culminating in a transfigurative and evolving vision. Freed of all influence, his approach to mythical beasts and nudity is continuously revisited. This philosophy applies to Chavanon’s drawing style, detailed medals, sculptural ensembles, monumental frescoes, book illustrations, etchings and lithographs.
Chavanon passed away in 2010.
