Théo TOBIASSE (1927-2012) was a French painter, engraver, draftsman, and sculptor born in Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine. The son of Lithuanian emigrants who settled in Paris in 1931, he survived the Vélodrome d'Hiver roundup in 1942 before becoming an advertising graphic designer. Based in Nice and then New York, from the 1960s onward, he developed a body of work centered on biblical themes, Women and Exile, enriched by his "pictorial words" and characterized by a constant quest for light and freedom.
📚Full biography:
His Parisian childhood revealed his artistic talent early on, notably when he discovered the work of Raoul Dufy at the 1937 World's Fair. This significant aesthetic encounter oriented his sensitivity towards color and the pictorial joy that would later characterize his style.
The Second World War shattered this creative insouciance. A miraculous survivor of the Vélodrome d'Hiver roundup in 1942, he now carried within him the traumatic experience of persecution. This ordeal lastingly nourished his artistic themes around exile and Jewish memory.
After the Liberation, he began a career as an advertising graphic designer, working for prestigious houses such as Hermès. His marriage to Fajga Goldfarb in 1947 and his obtaining French nationality in 1950 marked his definitive establishment. The move to Nice responded to his "need for light and freedom," fundamental elements of his artistic philosophy.
The 1960s saw his artistic vocation cemented. The Young Mediterranean Painting Prize in 1961 launched an international career with exhibitions in Paris, Geneva, Tokyo, and New York. His works evolved toward exploring childhood memories, the Holocaust, and exile, themes he addressed with a personal and emotional approach.
His technical versatility flourishes in carborundum engraving, lithography, and stained glass. This diversity reveals an artist in constant search of expression, capable of adapting his thematic concerns to the demands of each medium.
His New York move in the 1980s, while retaining his studio in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, enriched his palette with luminous themes and family portraits. This American period confirmed his international dimension while preserving his Mediterranean ties.
His latest creations include monumental works such as the sculpture "Venus" installed in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in 2007. His death in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 2012 brought to a close a remarkable career perpetuated by retrospective exhibitions and posthumous publications, notably that of the Museum of Fine Arts in Menton in 2000.
