BERGEVIN Albert

Albert BERGEVIN, born in Avranches on June 11, 1887, died on February 12, 1974, was a painter from Manche.

He was born at 9 rue de la Constitution where his father ran an antique shop. A student at the Avranches college, he was very early attracted to the artistic life. Starting from 1903, he made frequent stays in Paris. He first attended the classes of Louis Lavalley, then those of the Académie Julian and Ranson, and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

He exhibited at the Salon d'Automne at the height of his fame, and participated in the Salon des Indépendants in 1910. He was mobilized during the First World War, which he ended at the Army Photographic Archives Service in Paris. In the post-war years, he regularly exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants, as well as abroad, notably in Japan. In 1928, he settled permanently in Avranches, with his wife Marie-Jeanne Seguin and their two sons, first at 10 rue de Lille.

Seeking tranquility due to fragile health, he worked in his studio in Saint-Jean-le-Thomas. He contributed to the Revue de l'Avranchin. In 1937, he was appointed a professor at the Avranches college, from which he resigned in 1941 shortly after the death of his father in 1940. In 1965, he donated around fifty paintings and numerous drawings to the Avranches municipal museum. The museum dedicated a room to him, fulfilling his wish, where about twenty of his paintings can be seen. He was also a well-regarded poster artist.

He died on Rue de Geôle, in the property that had belonged to his parents, at the age of 86. In 1979, the garden of his studio in Saint-Jean-le-Thomas became the municipal garden of the seaside resort.