Guy Dessauges was born in 1924 at Lausanne, Switzerland, the son a Swiss father, a lawyer, and of an Armenian mother, a pianist. He attends the art school in Lausanne from 1940 to 1945. In 1946 he stays in Paris at the "Atelier du vrais" Then he attends the "Académie de la grande Chaumière" , studyng under Othon Friesze.
He paints in the post-impressionistic style, in black, white and red tones. Back in Lausanne, he works at projects for trade fair stands. In 1949 he moves to Bern, following the advice of his father who has been living in Bern for several years. Dessauges becomes easily integrated into the artistic groups of the capital, Bern being a very Francophile town. He atrikes up a friendship with several painters: Luigi Crippa, Franz Fédier, Mereth Oppenheim, Martin Lauterburg, Serge Brignoni and with Arnold Rüdlinger, the director of the Kunst halle in Bern, who encourages him without restriction.
In 1951 and 1952 Guy Dessauges is twice grant-holder of the French Government. He stays in Paris until 1954 and develops a new style of painting. He becomes acquainted with the American Art at its first apparition in Paris, represented by Jackson Pollock, Sain Francis and Mark Tobey. Dessauges starts then a series of experiencies in the spirit of tachisme. In his atelier in Montparnasse he experiments new "textures" which help him to get rid of a certain academicism. It is the beginning of technical freedom and exploration.
Back in Bern he is encouraged by A. Rüdlinger who exhibitshis paintings at the Kunsthalle with a group of Bernese artists.
At the end of 1954, Dessauges takes an important part in the first start of the Swiss Television in Zürich. In 1955 he is engaged as chief decorator in the T.V. studio on Bellerive.
In 1958 in his studio at the Villa Egli he starts painting big pictures with a spray gun. He is the first "Spritzer on great formats.
For a T.V. set ( Don Carlo, realized by Roger Burckhardt) , he paints a back-ground picture, 27 metres long and 4 metres 50 high.
After working 12 years for T.V. he resigns, works for the Karl Steiner building firm and creates numerous projects for hotels. restaurants bars, in Swtzerland and in Holland.
His painting evolues His style approaches the fantastic painting in the spitit of the experimental works on Max Ernst. He looks for new techniques on metallic basis, a new use of the ancient technique of glacis with more delineated forms. In 1994he reads Paul Radin Charles Keréniy's and with a commentary of C:G.Jung and starts painting a series of 80 pictures on the theme of The Divine Rascal, ( le divin fripon), a legendary myth of the North American Winnegago Indians. From this time on one finds in each of his pictures the lost profile of the Divine Rascal, embodying the blind and fundamental force of nature.
Dessauges lives at Herrliberg with his wife Anita and his cat Tutsi. He has just completed the fourth volume of his life story, written with a great sense of humour.
The ti...
"J'évite les théories aussi bien sur l'art en général que pour ma peinture en particulier.
Je parlerais plutôt de nécessité intérieure composée d'impulsions très simples: l'odeur de la peinture ...l'écrasement de la couleur sur le support... l'envie de mettre du rouge à côté du vert, puis d'un certain rouge à côté d'un certain vert ! ...Puis de transformer ces mélanges en paysage, puis en une composition avec des personnages... uniquement pour le plaisir, sans ambition, juste pour voir....
Parfois, vous êtes surpris du résultat surgissant de ce désordre. Du fond de soi émergent des formes insoupçonnées venant du subconscient et qui sont aussi réelles que les pensées de l'état présent...Cela vient d'un sentiment inconscient parallèle au conscient mais caché dans l'ombre... parfois ces surgissements se sont partiellement emmêlés; deux extrêmes se font jour sans ménagement... Par exemple, un paysage harmonique et bucolique, mêlé à une scène de diableries... genre tentation de Saint-Antoine ! On peut choisir l'impulsion la plus forte...ou sans tergiverser, composer avec les deux images... Ce qui peut donner une oeuvre comme la kermesse de Rubens, ou une composition de Breughels, entre le paradis et l'enfer, ou encore la tentation de Saint-Antoine de Max Ernst !...C'est à ce moment là que commence la création. Toutefois même en essayant de tout dire, il faut choisir, c'est le commencement de l'aventure.
Pour ne rien perdre de mon énergie, je travaille sur plusieurs tableaux à la fois. Même si je sais qu'un seul survivra, qui, d'ailleurs ne sera pas nécessairement bon, je le garde comme témoin en sursis ! "
Extrait du Tome 4 :
Le principe d'incertitude
Une vie d'artiste.
Guy Dessauges
