Pierre Boncompain was born in 1938 in Provence, France. Encouraged by his parents in his pursuit of the arts, he graduated first in his class at the French National Academy of Decorative Arts before moving on to the National Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied in the Leguelt atelier.

Boncompain’s work is always celebratory, presenting the pleasures of life with a Mediterranean vividness. His paintings, executed for the most part in Paris, are evocative of the environment and lifestyle of the south of France. He displays a wide combination of modern influences, combining a radiant and joyful Mattisean clarity of light with a simplicity and arrangement of form. The vibrant and earthy colors of these works; terracotta, ochre, rich purples, deep redsand blues, elicit memories of Gauguin’s Tahitian paintings.

Pierre Boncompain has had exhibitions in museums throughout the world, including: the Musee de Lille; Kajikawa Foundation, Kyoto; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Takashimaya Museum, Osaka; Singer Foundation, Holland; Navio Museum, Kyoto; Ambrosiano Library, Milan; and one-man retrospective exhibitions at the Shanghai Art Museum, China and the Musee de Valence, France.

Awards and Prizes

1970 Selected for the Friends of the Museum of Modern Art (Paris) Charles Pacquement Prize

1970 Critic’s Award, First Prize

1963 Collioure Prize

1959 General Council of Drome Prize

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2012 Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto

2009 Odon Wagner Contemporary

2008 Teen Museum, Tokyo, Japan

2007 Galerie Mark-Peet Visser, Laren, Holland

2007 Galerie Horizon, Geneva, Switzerland

2006 Galerie des Remparts, Bordeaux, France

2006 Hammer Galleries, New York

2006 Galerie Sakura No Ki, Tokyo, Japan

2006 Galerie Artfrance, Paris

2006 Galerie Mark-Peet Visser, Laren, Holland

2005 Galerie Artfrance, Paris

2005 Galerie Kwai, Hong Kong, China

2005 Musee de Valence, France

2004 Hammer Galleries, New York

2004 Galerie Sassi Milici, Vallauris, France

2004 Galerie Mart-Peet-Visser, Heusden, Holland

2004 French May Exhibition, Hong Kong, China

2004 Galerie Artfrance, Paris

2002 Hammer Galleries, New York

2002 Ambrosiano Library, Milan

2002 Emiliani Gallery, Dieuleft, France

2002 Retrospective, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2001 Elliot Yeary Gallery, Aspen, Colorado

2001 Galerie Artfrance, Paris

2001 Singer Foundation, Laren, Holland

2000 Galerie Sassi-Milici, Vallauris, France

1999 Hammer Galleries, New York

1998 Musee Navio, Kyoto

1998 Galerie Artfrance, Paris

1998 Museum Palais Carnoles, Menton, France

1997 Singer Museum, Holland

1997 Bruton Street Gallery, London

1997 Galerie Kajikawa, Kyoto

1996 Hammer Galleries, New York

1996 Bruton Street Gallery, London

1996 Kijiawa Foundation, Kyoto

1996 Meitetsu Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

1996 Foret Noir Gallery, Takamatsu, Japan

1996 Miyuki International Gallery, Yokohama, Japan

1995 Galerie Sassi-Milici, Vallauris, France

1995 Ryoke Spiral Gallery, Tokyo

1995 Bruton Street Gallery, London

1993 Galerie Artfrance, Paris

1993 Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo

1993 Ikaw-Saito Foundation, Japan

1993 Musee de Valence, France

1992 Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo

1992 Gion Sanjyo Gallery, Kyoto

1992 Takashiyama Museum, Osaka

1991 Kajikawa Foundation, Kyoto, Japan

1991 Art-Center Gallery, Tokyo

1991 Moustache Gallery, Osaka

1991 Ryoko Spiral Gallery, Tokyo

1990 Galerie Artfrance, Paris

1990 Retrospective, Chateau de Chenonceau, France

1989 Art Center, Tokyo

1989 Kajikawa Gallery, Kyoto

1989 Wattis Gallery, Hong Kong

1988 Exhibitions in Tokyo, Kyoto, Sendae, Kobe, and Ashiya, Japan, organized by Gion Sanjyo Gallery, Tokyo

1988 & 1986 Galerie Bellefontaine, Lausanne, Switzerland

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006 Art-Expo, Geneva, Switzerland

2005 Art Fair, Hong Kong and Shanghai, China

1992 Chefs d’ouevre de l’estampe du XXieme siecle de Bonnard a Baselitz, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

1991 Art-Expo, Los Angeles

1988 Saga, Grand Palais, Paris

1988 Art-Expo, New York

1981 Galerie BP, Brussels, Belgium with Wilfredo Lam, Agam and Max Ernst

1965 100 Paintings, Chateau de Tournon, Ardeche, France

1965 23 Painters of the School of Paris, Museum of Lille, Lille, France; Gallerie Guiot, Paris; Marshall Gallery, Chicago

Publications

2005 Boncompain: Paintings, Fragments Editions, Paris

2005 Catalogue, Musee de Valence

2002 Ceramiques, text by Dominique Sassi, Fragments Editions, Paris

2002 Catalogue, Shanghai Art Museum

1999 Le Cantique des Cantiques, Fragments Editions, Paris

1998 Catalogue, Musee Carnoles, Menton, France

1998 Catalogue Raisonne, Lithographs, Editions Kajikawa, Japan

1997 Les Lieux d’Origine, text by Georges Borgeaud, Fragments Editions, Paris

1993 Monograph, Editions Kyoto-Shoin, Japan

1986 Monograph, text by Georges Borgeaud, Edition Bellefontaine

Education

1963 Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, Atelier Leguelt

1961 National Academy of Fine Arts (the Leguelt studio), Paris

Lycee Emile Loubet, Valence, France

Saint Joseph College, Avignon, France