Claude Benard

Through the Looking Glass, Impressionist French Oil Painting

c. 1970's

Claude Benard was born in Cholet in 1926, but shortly afterward, his family moved to Angoulême (1928), where he was to live until his death in 2016. Benard studied at the École des beaux-arts in Paris and also in the studios of Cheyssial and Fougerat. At the age of 21, he began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français. After some time spent traveling to broaden his artistic experience, he returned to his hometown to continue painting professionally. He became a professor at the Ecole des beaux-arts in Angoulême from 1957–80. Benard exhibited with numerous prestigious institutions throughout France and abroad, including the Salon des Artistes Français, Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne, Paris. He was the recipient of more than 70 awards. In 1978, he founded the Cercle Angoumousin des Arts and in 1979 organized a Salon of Contemporary Art in Angoulême, bringing together celebrated artists from the Charente region. His style evolved from figurative in the 1960s to Surrealism into the 1970s and onwards. Four tribute exhibitions of his works were held in Angoulême in 1972, 1984, 2001 and 2017.