OLIVIER FOSS

(French, 1920-2002)

VIEW OF PARIS

Oil on Canvas, Relined to Larger Canvas

18 x 21¾ Inches

Signed Upper Left, 'O. Foss'

 

Born in Hanover, Germany, Olivier Foss first studied art in Berlin and, subsequently, in Paris, at the Lycee Pasteur and Lycee Janson de Sailly. This was followed by instruction with Paul Colin and Jean Dupas at the École des Beaux-Arts. Foss then moved to New York City where he worked with Maria Annot and Ruth Jacoby, who organized Foss's first one-man exhibition at the Riverside Museum. A second exhibition took place at the New School for Social Research. Shortly afterwards, Foss was invited to exhibit his work at the 1964 World's Fair and the National Art Club. During this period, he also enrolled at the Art Students League where he studied drawing with George Bridgman. While painting and studying art in New York, Foss also worked as a book illustrator. He then moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he was appointed Fine Arts instructor at the University of Elizabethtown and, at the same time, pursued his interest in science by studying for a Bachelor of Science degree. After graduating, he taught Bacteriology in Philadelphia and worked as a Laboratory Technologist. He then moved to Switzerland and enrolled at the University of Basel where he continued his scientific studies. However, the call to pursue his art talent remained strong and, in 1949, he left the University at Basel and returned to Paris, where he settled into an atelier at Villa des Ternes. After two years painting in Paris, he assembled a one-man exhibition that toured the United States, showing in New York City, Boston, Palm Beach, and Philadelphia. In 1952, he returned again to Paris and went into seclusion to pursue his "new pictorial projects, which had haunted his mind for many years."

 

In 1953, Foss mounted a career-changing exhibition, titled "Life's Deaths and Summits", which was held at the Galerie Drouant-David on the Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore in Paris. This exhibition drew promoters for international exhibitions and also led to his subsequent representation in Paris at the prestigious Gallery Charpentier. In the 1960's, Foss and the painter Armand Nakache organizing a large exhibition titled "Expressionnismes" at the Musee Galliera in Paris, which he followed with successful one-man shows in Switzerland and Germany.

 

Reference:

E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 5, p. 594; et al.