French (1920-1999)

Olivier Debré was a French abstract painter born in Paris in 1920. He is one of the main European representatives of lyrical abstraction, along with Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Georges Mathieu and Jean Miotte . His early works, created around 1943, reflected the influence of Picasso (whom he met in 1941), and around 1945 he began to make paintings reflecting the influence of Japanese calligraphy in gouache and ink, in common with American Abstract Expressionists like Kline and Motherwell. By 1960, Debré was making vibrant color field paintings with sweeping, fluid marks.

Olivier Debré was one of the best known French abstract painters of the postwar era in Europe. He was born in 1920 into a prosperous intellectual and professional family. His grandfather was the Chief Rabbi Simon Debre while his father Robert was a well known pediatrician. His brother Michel was a great statesman and served as the Prime Minister of France under the administration of former President Charles de Gaulle. The family enjoyed an ancestral home that overlooked the Loire River. Debre exhibited an interest in both art and architecture by the age of nine when he was still quite young and perhaps in response to his grief over the death of his mother.

In 1939 Debré studied briefly in Paris with Le Corbusier, the French-Swiss architect who was one of the pioneers of Modern Architecture or what is referred to as the International Style. He enrolled in the Faculty of Letters at the Sorbonne in Paris. He also attended the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in 1938 where he studied painting. During World War II Debre was a part of the French Resistance forces and received the Croix de Guerre, an award for individuals who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with enemy forces. In spite of the Nazi occupation of Paris Debré was able to show some of his paintings during 1940-1. In 1942 he became a part of the circle of artists surrounding Picasso, who encouraged Debré to move towards abstraction.

After the war ended, Debré became a part of the new generation of painters belonging to the School of Paris which included Pierre Soulages, Nicolas de Stael, Serge Poliakoff and Maria Elena Vieira da Silva.