Andre Vignoles Folk Art

Andre Vignoles was born in the southwest part of France on August 5, 1920. He followed a course of classic studies but was attracted to drawing at an early age and gave much of his time to it. Vignoles began to paint with a student of Flandria, one of the first Fauves, who studied in the atelier of Gustave Moreau. As he continued his study of painting, Vignoles was attracted by the art of Cezanne, Van Gogh and the Primitives of the 15th century. In 1945, Vignoles married and moved to Nice but shortly went to live at Vallauris, where he worked in ceramics to earn his living, though his spare time was devoted completely to painting. It was in 1945 that Vignoles first met Pierre Bonnard. Bonnard gave the young artist both advice and encouragement, and in particular, urged him to go to Paris. Vignoles moved to Paris in 1946. Two years after he moved to Paris, he began to exhibit at the Salon d'Automne. In 1950, he became a member of the Salon des Indépendants. In 1951, he exhibited in the Salon des Jeunes Oeintres, of whose committee he was later elected a member. In 1952, the French State made its first purchase of one of his paintings, in succeeding years others were purchased both by the French State and the City of Paris.