Gaston Sebire b. 1920 Floral Still Oil Painting French Listed Flower Wally Findlay Gallery

Signed G Sebire lower right, name plaque affixed to the frame, Wally Findlay gallery label on the verso with soft warm colors this impressionist still life would make a great addition to any fine collection.

SIZE: 59" x 38" / 147.5cm x 95cm (artwork), 68" x 46" / 170 cm x 115cm (frame).
CONDITION: Excellent, original period frame and Wally Findlay Gallery Label.

Background: Gaston Sebire (1920-2001) French. Sébire began to paint when he was around eighteen years old. He attended no art schools and worked alone. In order to paint, he had to earn a living at the same time, and for eight years he sorted letters as a postal employee, working nights so that he could paint during the day. He worked in Rouen, destiny having led him from his native village of Saint-Samson near Caen to the capital of Normandy. From his very first show, his paintings attracted art lovers to such a point that a group of them arranged to guarantee him as much money each year as he had been earning in the post office so that he could devote all his time to painting. From that moment on, Sébire was a professional painter. In 1952, Gaston Sébire had his first exhibition in Paris. The following year, 1953, a double triumph marked his career. He won both the Prix de la Critique and the Prix Casa Velasquez, which allowed him to spend a year and a half in Spain. In 1957 his painting “Le Dinde” won the Greenshields Prize in a field of 136 competitors. The years of sorting mail by night and painting by day are now long behind Gaston Sébire. He has had exhibitions in Germany, England, and America and regularly exhibits in Paris in the Salon d’Automne, the Salon des Independants, and the Salon de Tuileries which in recent years has been known as the Ecole de Paris. His paintings have been purchased for the collections of the Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris, as well as the museums of Norwich and Rouen. American collectors have accepted his work with enthusiasm. One of his paintings has been purchased by the University of Wisconsin for its permanent collection and has been hung in Chadbourne Hall. Two of his paintings have been added to the permanent collection of the Joe and Emily Low Art Gallery of Syracuse University. Recognition continues to be given to Sébire’s work in his own land. In 1966, he won the Grand Prix of the Biennale of Trouville and, in 1968, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Salon des Artistes Francais as well as the Medal of Honor of the Salon de la Marine. In 1975, he received one of France’s most coveted awards when, in an impressive ceremony in the Rouen Hotel de Ville in February of that year, Jean Lecanuet, Minister of Justice and Mayor of Rouen, pinned a blue ribbon and cross to Sébire’s lapel signifying he had been made a “Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Merite” - Knight in the Legion of Merit. Since the Legion of Honor should, in principle, serve uniquely as a Military honor, the Legion of Merit honors men in non-military fields and was given to Gaston Sébire by the Minister of Cultural affairs in recognition of the fact he is one of the best contemporary French artists. [Biography credit: condensed from biography by WALLY FINDLAY GALLERIES].