Bissière, Roger

(1888-1964)

   painter, engraver Born in Villeréal, Lot-et-Garonne, Roger Bissière, after studies at the École des beaux-arts in BoRdeaux, settled in Paris, where he frequently saw andré lhote and the Spanish artist Juan Gris and, beginning in 1922, became friends with georges braque. Bissière collaborated, too, on le courbu-sier and amédée ozenfant's revue, L'Esprit nouveau, and was professor at the Académie Ranson from 1925 to 1938. Settling in the Lot region in 1939 with vision problems, he abandoned painting until 1945. Meanwhile, he produced fabric wallpapers. After his recovery, he painted nonfigurative works, abandoning cubism and painting subtle nuances, creating more or less compact canvases that gave the entire work an original tonal unity. These works, in which color tends to become the primary vehicle for emotion, often reveal a sustained contemplation of nature (Le Jardin cette nuit, 1962). Bis-sière also produced numerous engravings, as well as stained-glass windows for the cathedral of Metz.