Biography
Edouard Pignon (b. Bully-les Mines, France 1905 - d. La Couture-Boussey, France 1993) was the son of a miner. He worked as a youth down a mine and as a ceiling plasterer but took a correspondence course in art. Pignon moved to Paris in 1927 and initially worked in the Citroën and Renault car factories. He studied painting in the evenings at the Ecole du Montparnasse, under Auclair, and sculpture and drawing at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, under Wlérick and Arnold. He became a layout man for the weekly Regards (1936-9).
Pignon's first solo show was at the Galerie d'Anjou, Paris (1939). After WW2 he was a realist figurative artist, making numerous preliminary drawings, some directly from nature, and working in series, exploring movement and conflict: Miners, The Dead Worker, Grape-harvesting, Olive Trees, Cockfights, Divers. He was close friends with Picasso from 1951 and, following his example, began making ceramics in 1953 at Vallauris, Provence. He also designed for the theatre and made several large murals in fresco.
