Emmanuel

BELLINI

1904 - 1989

Profile & Bio

A French architect, figurative painter, draughtsman and lithographer, Emmanuel Bellini was born in Monaco. (26 March 1904) His father, Antoine, a former international gymnastics champion, was a mechanical fitter at the town's electricity plant, and his mother, Louise, was an embroiderer. After attending the École des Frères, in 1919 he enrolled at the École de Dessin du Rocher (later renamed as the École Supérieure d'Arts Plastiques de la Ville de Monaco). There, his tutor, Professor Colombo, had instructed him on charcoal ronde-bosse and introduced him to the use of watercolours. On his graduation in 1922, he joined the architectural practice of Charles Dalmas and settled in Sainte-Maxime (Var). He would go on to design the Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice, among other notable buildings. At the same time he produced cartoons and caricatures for the regional press under the name "Mène" which was a family nickname given to him. He married in 1989 (Thérèse Gallo) and moved to live in Cannes in 1929. Encouraged by his friend Cyril Constantin, Bellini, took up painting quite late in life, painting his first canvas in 1948. In 1949, he exhibited in Cannes in the hall of the Grosso company where painters Louis Pastour and Jean-Gabriel Domergue showered him with praise. His oils and numerous watercolours have intense colours with hints of Fauvism and Impressionism. lived successively in Spéracèdes (1951-1952) and Cannes (from 1953), and died on 7 December 1989 in Saint-Laurent-du-Var. He was A French figurative painter, draughtsman and lithographer. Emmanuel Bellini was prolific: he tackled no fewer than 40 themes during the course of his career. His favourite theme was that of the horse-drawn carriage, which became his emblem, a memory of his childhood when he tended horses in the evenings after a day's work. Then came clowns, the circus, flowers, architectural elements, domes, red Venice, Paris, Nantes, Monaco, the French Revolution, Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, dreamlike landscapes, and many others, all set in the Belle Époque. To commemorate his 80th birthday, Prince Rainier of Monaco offered him an exhibition at the Sporting d'Hiver, an opportunity to present a series on the Circus, a shared passion of the painter and the Prince, as well as a variation on Velázquez. OBSERVATIONS ON HIS WORK: About his work « At last, a painter! » - Jean-Gabriel Domergue « Bellini's paintings are full of colours, thrown violently onto the canvas, with a sticky paste. They are a visual shock. The painter has, for the most part, treated them with a knife, refusing the subtleties of the brush. His canvases are more sensitive because Bellini is an architect living and working in Cannes... As it is, his painting is sincere, cheerful, colourful and instinctive. » - Connaissance des arts « There is a "Bellini red" just as there is a "sunshine yellow" that belongs to him. But what I love about him is that he paints like he breathes, deeply, like a man with a broad torso and lungs free of emphysema. He paints his landscapes, his people, and gives them their colour, which is his colour, but he also gives them back to us, thanks to the line he has chosen, as he has seen them, of course, but also as we will be happy to see them from now on, not as we are obliged to see them.» - Paul Vialar « You've got joie de vivre at the tip of your brush. » - Henri Troyat « Bellini liked to recreate the atmosphere of the Belle Époque, which he obviously did not experience, in pleasantly decorative canvases with "harmoniously assonant layouts that combine organisation with flexibility", in the words of Maximilien Gauthier. In his first period, he used a particular technique of raised dots, "les perlés", which cover the entire surface of the canvas.» - Gérald Schurr

Exhibitions / Prizes /

Public Collections / Publications

Personal Exhibitions: 2014 - Emmanuel Bellini, architecte et peintre, espace Bonnard, Le Cannet 2010 - Les années Bellini, Maison de l'Amérique latine, Monaco 2009 - Les années Bellini, Maison de l'Amérique latine, Monaco Emmanuel Bellini - La joie de vivre, espace Bonnard, Le Cannet Emmanuel Bellini - Couleurs d'eau, Musée de la Mer de Cannes, Fort royal de l'île Sainte-Marguerite 2008 Emmanuel Bellini, exposition de printemps : l'Espagne, chapelle Bellini, Cannes 1995 Galerie Cantios, Cannes Galerie Gantois, Antibes 1991 Musée de la Castre, Cannes 1989 - Emmanuel Bellini - Peintures perlées, Musée municipal de Mougins 1988 Château d'Homécourt, octobre novembre 1987 Emmanuel Bellini - Encres et aquarelles, Galerie Katia Granoff, Paris 1986 Emmanuel Bellini - Encres et aquarelles, Galerie Katia Granoff, Paris 1985 Galerie de la Colombe, Vallauris 1984 Rétrospective Emmanuel Bellini, Sporting d'hiver de Monte-Carlo 1979 Emmanuel Bellini - Les inédits, La Malmaison, Cannes 1978 Galerie du Drap d'or, Cannes Galerie L'Incontro, Rome 1976 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris Galerie des arts contemporains, Monte-Carlo Emmanuel Bellini - Quarante ans d'art graphique, Casino municipal de Cannes 1975 Galerie des arts contemporains, Monte-Carlo 1974 Galerie des arts contemporains, Monte-Carlo 1973 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris 1972 Rétrospective Emmanuel Bellini, Sporting d'hiver de Monte-Carlo 1971 Palm Beach, Cannes, Cannes 1970 Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice 1969 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice 1967 Musée municipal de Saint-Paul-de-Vence 1966 Galerie d'art et d'antiquités, Marck Musée municipal de Saint-Paul-de-Vence 1965 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris 1964 Galerie Cézanne, Cannes 1963 Galerie Cézanne, Cannes 1962 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris 1961 Galerie Jacques O'Hana, Londres Galerie Arlet, Monte-Carlo 1960 Galerie 65, Cannes 1959 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris 1957 Galerie 65, Cannes 1956 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris Galerie Clio, Nice 1955 Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice 1954 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris 1953 Galerie Jacques O'Hana, Londres Galerie Crane; Manchester 1952 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris Galerie Henri Gaffié, Nice 1951 Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris 1950 Galerie Odette Bosc-Pétridès, Paris 1949 Galerie Martin Cruson, Cannes. Group Exhibitions: 2015 Sarabande, espace Saint-Bernardin, Le Cannet Fenêtre sur Cannes - Portraits de Cannois, espace Miramar, Cannes 1985 Exposition internationale de peinture, Budapest 1981 Monaco Portopia, Kobe (Japon) Exposition internationale de peinture, Budapest 1958 Semaine de l'Unesco, Musée océanographique de Monaco 1949 Galerie Lambert, Paris XIXe Salon monégasque, Monte-Carlo 1927 Foire de l'humour, Nice Prizes & Distinctions: First price du Concours international d'affiches de Monte-Carlo, 1923. Officier de l'Ordre de Saint-Charles. Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite culturel de Monaco. Museums and public collections Musée-chapelle Bellini, Cannes. Hôtel des Anges (ancien hôtel de ville), Le Cannet, La joie de vivre, cinq œuvres. Musée des beaux-arts de Nice. Bibliothèque municipale de Nice. Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris. Musée municipal de Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Musée du Cirque Alain Frère, Tourrette-Levens. Galerie d'art Beaverbrook, Fredericton. Vincent Price Collection, Chicago. Bureau officiel du tourisme français, New York. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington. Musée d'art de Tel Aviv, Cannes à la Belle Époque. Hôtel de ville de Monaco. TRIBUTES: Chapelle Musée, in the Parc Fiorentina, Avenue de Vallauris, Cannes. Open every afternoon from 2pm to 5pm, Monday to Friday. A road in Cannes is named boulevard Emmanuel-Bellini. The Prix Emmanuel-Bellini, established in 1989, is awarded annually as part of the Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival. A horse race held at the Côte d'Azur racecourse (Cagnes-sur-Mer) is known as the Prix Emmanuel-Bellini.