Claude Pelletier-Pigot

Claude Pelletier-Pigot (1932 in Versailles France – April 2008), was a French painter and printmaker.

Biography

Born in Versailles in 1932, trained in Paris at Met-de-Penninghen's workshop (Julian Academy), then at the Métiers d'Art with Darnat, she finally opted for painting. In 1956, she left for Africa and presented her first exhibition in Dakar (Senegal). She also taught plastic arts in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). These four "African" years leave an indelible imprint on her work.

In 1964, she met Stanley William Hayter and worked 6 years on engraving techniques at his "Atelier 17" [1] in Paris. This encounter had a decisive influence on the rest of her work which can be defined as the search for the synthesis between the lyrical and geometric abstraction of the fifties and the contemporary figurative.

She chose to live in seclusion from 1970 onwards in a village of the Drôme (south-east of France) where she opened a printmaking workshop. Later in 1982, she visited India and stayed in an ashram. Claude Pigot's work the gained in strength and matures into its own symbolism.

In 1987, she moved to New York City and worked at the Printmaking Workshop of Robert Blackburn, lithographer, ex-student of S. W. Hayter and leading figure of New-York printmaking. She also taught at The Children's Storefront,[2] a tuition-free independent school in Harlem. She returned to France in 2000 and continued to create until about one year prior to her demise.

Her sons designed an original website for her with a selection of 300 of her works [3] and wrote a comprehensive study of her life as an artist. This site includes Claude's own account of how she worked.

Selection of exhibitions and distinctions

  • Centre Culturel - Dakar (Senegal),
  • Biennale of Bordeaux (France),
  • International Print Biennale, Bradford (GB),
  • Centre International d'Art Contemporain - Paris (France),
  • Madison-Wisconsin University Art Center (USA),
  • Engraving prize at the 3rd Biennale of Bordeaux (France).

Notes and references

Sources

Text (in its version dated June 6, 2009) taken from website of the artist, of which her sons are the authors.

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