Roger Delapierre
Born in 1935.
Born in Geneva in 1935, Roger Delapierre is a Swiss painter whose known works reveal a lasting attachment to landscapes and cities. Catalogues of dated works make it possible to follow his subjects across several decades: the banks of the Arve, Geneva’s quays and Old Town, Lavaux, as well as French and Italian sites. Delapierre often returns to oil on canvas to capture a place at the scale of the walker’s gaze.
The titles of his paintings map out a familiar geography. «Quai du Mont-Blanc», dated 1994 on the reverse, and «La Perle du lac», dated 2000, place the painter on the shores of Lake Geneva. «Vieille-Ville, Genève, Place de la Madeleine» shifts the focus towards the city’s streets and buildings.
Elsewhere, views of Sion Cathedral, the Collegiate Church of Neuchâtel, or Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Fribourg testify to his interest in architecture within the urban landscape. A canvas entitled «Le Lavaux en automne» expands this repertoire to include vineyards and the seasons.
The body of work thus invites us to follow the painter from one shore to a square, and then from one city to another. The place names, sometimes inscribed on the backs of the paintings together with their dates, form part of their material memory. They anchor a pictorial practice in specific sites and make it possible to grasp the movements of his gaze.
Between water, built structures and countryside, Delapierre created a repertoire of Swiss views in which Geneva occupies a privileged place. His canvases give these motifs the continuity of an enquiry pursued over the years, attentive to what each site has to offer that is distinctive.
