Biography

JAMES COIGNARD

JAMES COIGNARD was born in Tours in 1925.He was brought up in Paris where he also studied.
As a state employee in the financial government department ,he was transfered to the South of France in 1948.
An evening class in the Nice School of Decorative Arts revealed him as a painter.
He discovered Matisse , Braque , and Chagall and started experimenting Contemporary Art ("from abstract representation to pure abstraction").
He participated in exhibitions in Nice , Cannes , Paris and in Sweden.
His American carrier was launched by his first exhibition in New York in 1957.Afterwards , his success over there has been continuously increasing ever since.
In 1968 , he discovered engraving (after he had read his friend Goetz' treaty about Carborundum engraving) and started using this new technique which made creations very close to paintings.
His paintings and engravements have been presented during numerous exhibitions throughout the world.
Nowadays , his works are housed by many famous museums and collections: Bibliothèque Nationale - Paris / Nice / Guggenheim - New York/ British Museum - London/ Museum of Modern Art - San- Francisco / Jerusalem / Museum of Contemporary Art - Montréal / Dublin…