GASPARD Leon

March 2, 1882 (Vitebsk) — February 21, 1964 (Taos, New Mexico, USA)

Painter, graphic artist

Leon Gaspard was born to a family of merchants, which came from France. In 1890s he studied in the studio of Yehuda Pen in Vitebsk and at Odessa Art School under the guidance of K. Kostandi. In 1900 Gaspard moved to Paris, where he continued his education in the Academy of R. Julien (till 1908), the studios of W.–A. Bouguereau and E. Toudouze. Gaspard met a lot of representatives of art circles in Paris, in particular A. Modigliani, M. Utrillo, G. Apollinaire, J. Pascin, A. France. In 1905 Bouguereau helped the artist to organize his first personal exhibition in the gallery Petit.

In 1908 Gaspard married American ballerina Evelyn Adel. Gaspard together with his wife made a trip to Siberia. In early 1910s he successfully exposed his works at the Autumn Salon, the Salon of French artists. He took part in many group exhibitions in Luxemburg, Gent, Brussels, Düsseldorf and Cologne. During the battle near Charleroi, Gaspard had to jump out the plane, which had lost control, without parachute. But he survived by a lucky chance. More than a year he had been in hospital.

In the beginning of 1916, Gaspard moved to the USA. The exhibition of his sketches of war was held in the gallery Rainguard; it provoked public interest. In spite of success in New York, under advice of physicians, Gaspard had to move to places with warm climate. In 1918 he settled in Taos.

In 1921–1924 Gaspard made a trip to Asia. He visited Japan, China, Mongolia; he traversed on horseback the Gobi desert, the Tian Shan; visited Transbaikalia, Turkestan, the Taklamakan Desert, Altaian steppes. On returning to Taos, Gaspard held several exhibitions of his work of Asian series, which brought fame to the artist in the USA.

Since 1933 Gaspard painted mostly in Taos and rarely left the town. He painted landscapes, scenes of American West, paintings of Asian and Russian motifs. Gaspard was on friendly terms with writer D. H. Lawrence, sculptor M. Sterne, painters J. Marin and N. I. Feshin, who lived in Taos too.

In 1956 Gaspard became a widower; he didn’t work for several years. In 1958 he married for the second time the famous painter Dora Kamenskaya. They made a trip to England, France, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Egypt and USSR. In 1961 big personal exhibition of Gaspard was held in Taos.

Retrospective exhibitions of Leon Gaspard were held in Santa Fe (1965) and in San Francisco (1967).

Leon Gaspard was one of the most outstanding representatives of American art of the 20th century. In Russia his art was almost unknown. His early works were painted in impressionism and postimpressionism styles; for some time his manner of painting was similar to H. Matisse’s one. Later Gaspard develop his own recognizable style, combining traditions of Russian painting and European art of the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries. Works of Gaspard were characterized by decorative manner of painting, expressive bright colors, and texture strokes. Besides oil painting, Gaspard was engaged in watercolor and pastel.

Works of Leon Gaspard are in many museum and private collections, including the Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, the Art Gallery of the University of Rochester in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Antonio Museum of Art and others.