Roland Dubuc

Parisian Funfair

circa 1970s

Roland DuBuc, French artist, the sixth of 13 children and son of a construction worker. The very precariousness of the family's financial situation forced him to go to work at the age of 14. In extreme poverty, DuBuc moved to Rouen, where he was lodged by the Salvation Army. During that time, DuBuc struck up friendships with several artists who gave him advice and taught him techniques of drawing. DuBuc moved to other cities later, where he met painters including, among others, Fred Pailhès. In 1950, DuBuc moved to Montmartre in a miserable building without water or electricity. DuBuc’s work gained support from galleries after he participated in the "Great and Young Artists Fair" in Paris. But it wasn't until the mid-1970s during his stay in Switzerland that DuBuc started to earn a comfortable living. Upon return to Paris in the 1980s, his oldest collector, Jean-Paul Villain, opened a gallery that featured DuBuc's work in an important series of exhibitions. These sealed his reputation as a fine artist and gained him an international clientele eager to invest in his works. DuBuc died in his workshop in 1998.