Alfred Manessier

Alfred Manessier (1911-1993) was a French abstract painter, lithographer and designer of tapestries and stained glass. He was born at Saint-Ouen in the North of France. In 1929 he went to Paris to study architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts, but also copied Old Masters in the Louvre and worked in the evenings in the academies of Montparnasse. In the 1930s he painted in the Cubist-Surrealist tradition. Contacts with the Trappists in 1943 led to a deep commitment to religion. His work became abstract by 1945, while he continued to draw inspiration from religious and landscape themes. From 1947 he was also active as a designer of tapestries and of stained-glass windows for churches. Occasionally he also designed for the theatre. He was awarded First Prize at the 1955 Pittsburgh International and the main painting prize at the 1962 Venice Biennale. He lived in Paris and Emancé near Chartres.