PAUL CROTTO

(American, 1922-2016)

THE MARNE

Oil on Canvas

23½ x 28½ Inches

Signed Lower Right, 'Crotto'

Additionally Signed, Verso, and Dated 1964

 

Paul Crotto first studied at the Art Students League in New York from which he graduated in 1949. He then traveled and studied extensively in Europe, including two years in Florence at the Accademia di Belle Arti. Crotto then moved to Paris, where he studied for two influential years at Fernand Léger's Academy. Fellow students at Léger's included Le Corbusier, Sam Francis and Nicolas de Staël. During his early Paris period, Crotto rented Georges Braque’s former atelier at the Hotel Roma for 9 francs a day. During these early, and leaner, Paris years, he also worked as an art teacher at the American School where he taught art to, among others, Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth's children. Crotto then attended the Atelier Lacourière in Montmartre where he studied graphic arts, particularly engraving. It was here that he became friendly with Henri Matisse and Joan Miró and, as a result, was invited to exhibit with Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. As his fortunes improved, Crotto purchased the atelier directly above the Léger Academy. When he married and started a family, he extensively enlarged this atelier to include a second floor with huge studio windows to create more space, both to live and to work.

 

In 1961, Crotto was discovered by the French gallerist Jeanne Castel who invited the artist to exhibit at his gallery alongside the major contemporary Modernists of the School of Paris From this time on, Crotto's work gained wide acceptance and he continued to exhibit with success, both in solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe and United States, including at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon de la Jeune Peinture and at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris as well as in Munich, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Munich. Over a long and distinguished career, Paul Crotto was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards including, in 1963, the Prix International de Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

 

Solo exhibitions:

Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris, 1961

Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris, 1962

Galerie Blanche, Stockholm, 1963

City of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, 1963

Galerie René Drouet, Paris, 1964

Musée d'Art International, San Francisco, 1965

Galerie Grave, Munich, 1966

Galerie Grave, Munich, 1967

Galerie René Drouet, Paris, 1968

Sindin Harris Galleries, New York, 1969

Maison Nationale des Artistes, Paris, 2016

 

Group Exhibitions:

Mostra di Artisti Americani, Florence, 1951;

American Painters in France, Galerie Craven, Paris, 1953;

Dix Ans de Prix de Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Paris, 1964;

Obelisk Gallery, Boston, 1964;

Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, 1965;

Sculptures des Peintres, Galerie Le Grall, Paris, 1967

Galerie am Alten Hof, Munchen, 1967;

School of Paris, Galerie Juarez, Los Angeles, 1967;

Artists of Europe and Israel, Riverdale, New York, 1968