Maurice Robert
Born in 1909.
Died in 1992.
Born on 26 March 1909 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Maurice Robert developed a painting practice that evolved from a Post-Impressionism inspired by his early training towards a more abstract orientation, while also exploring material solutions such as large hangings made from fabric scraps and wall decorations integrated into public buildings in the 1950s and 1960s.
He trained at the Gymnase de La Chaux-de-Fonds, where Édouard Kaiser was his drawing teacher, and also received private instruction from Charles Humbert and, during stays in Paris, advice from Roger Bissière and Amédée Dubois de La Patellière (Académie Ranson).
His decision to become a painter dates from the age of fourteen; after obtaining the Maturité fédérale, he began his career surrounded by painter friends such as Lucien Schwob, Georges Dessoulavy and Pierre-Eugène Bouvier, and exhibited regularly from 1932 onwards (in group exhibitions from 1934).
Married in 1936, he settled near La Neuveville, on the shores of Lake Biel; from 1947 to 1950, he taught painting in Biel for the Mouvement Culturel Romand, then taught drawing and art history at the Gymnase de La Chaux-de-Fonds from 1952 to 1974.
His practice was the subject of a retrospective celebrating fifty years of painting in 1976 at the Fondation du Grand-Cachot-de-Vent; a Fondation Maurice Robert is mentioned, and the artist is associated with the Collection des arts visuels de la Ville de Bienne.
