HASTAIRE Claude

Hastaire (Claude Hilaire, Paris 1946 – Trouville-sur-Mer 2020), painter, lithographer, and writer, son of Camille Hilaire, developed a free and intense figuration, inspired by Goya, Bacon, and poetry. Galerie 125 offers you his original signed lithographs.

Hastaire: Painter, Lithographer, and Writer

Son of the painter Camille Hilaire, Claude Hilaire chose the name Hastaire at the age of sixteen to sign a work that is uniquely his own. A painter of figures and memory, a recognized lithographer, and the author of numerous essays, he has exhibited in Europe, the United States, and Asia, and his works are included in several French public collections.

Milestones

• Birth and Death: Paris, 1946 – Trouville-sur-Mer, 2020.
• Family: son of the painter Camille Hilaire.
• Techniques: oil, acrylic, newspaper collage, lithography.
• Distinction: Monte-Carlo International Prize in 1994.
• Collections: Goya Museum in Castres, Musée de l'Ardenne, National Library of France, Trouville Museum.

From Abstraction to Figuration

Born in Paris in 1946, Hastaire studied at the Applied Arts and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which he left twice, not very attracted to academic teaching. He drew for the literary pages of the newspaper Combat and worked as a lithographer for many artists. Initially tempted by abstraction in the wake of Jean Fautrier, he discovered Francis Bacon at the Grand Palais in 1972, then received encouragement from Graham Sutherland. From then on, he dedicated himself to a very personal figuration.

Recognition came in the mid-1980s. He exhibited at FIAC and in many international fairs, at the Goya Museum in Castres, the Musée de l'Ardenne, and in 2010, he had a retrospective at the French Pavilion of the Shanghai World Expo. In 1999, he co-founded the group Mémoires with Alain Kleinmann. Settled in Normandy, he passed away in Trouville-sur-Mer in 2020.

A Painting of Memory

Hastaire's art is recognized by its drips, its figures emerging from a worked background, and its newspapers mounted on canvas. He worked in series, which he abandoned once the subject was exhausted: tributes to Goya, Bacchanales, Eves, Myths and Caprices, Retro-portraits, Blockhouses. Painting and writing constantly respond to each other in his work, which he extends with books like "Éloge de la lithographie" or "Goya ou la fureur d'être."

Hastaire's Lithographs

Hastaire knew lithography from the inside, having practiced it for a long time in the service of other artists. His original lithographs, signed in pencil and numbered, offer an accessible way to acquire a work by the artist: they are generally available starting from a hundred euros, while his paintings, unique works, are much more sought after. Galerie 125, in Argancy near Metz, presents the available works above, each accompanied by a gallery certificate.

Do you own a work by Hastaire and wish to sell or appraise it? Visit our page Sell a Work.