Philippe Derome

Philippe Derome (born 18 February 1937 in Paris) is a French figurative painter.

Selma marche, oil on canvas, by Philippe Derome 1965

Biography

Philippe Derome grew up in Boulogne-Billancourt and in Villeurbanne. In 1956 he settled in Paris where he studied for two years with Paul Colin. From 1960 to 1970 he was privileged enough to be part of the sophisticated and artistic circles of Paris. In Paris, he met black American students and writers such as James Baldwin. Baldwin fed his interest on issues related to black American identity, the struggle for civil rights in the USA, and its use as a subject for contemporary and figurative art. Later in the 1980s he also painted themes about the black people in France.

The staggered representation of recreation is another dominant theme seen in Derome’s work. He succeeds in inciting a sense of surprise from even the most banal source. He seizes the moment, or as Alexandre Vialatte puts it, "Even the most ordinary of scenes possesses the greatest sense of mystery."

Themes

His main subjects are :

• The leisure civilisation : Ski, beaches scenes, nights clubs
• Négritude, African-American Civil Rights Movement, Selma to Montgomery marches and later black people in France.
• Vanitas
• War

Techniques

• Oils and acrylics on canvas, gouaches on paper.
• Objects and painted furnitures.
• Collages : books of photograpics assemblies or colors papers silhouette cut and stuck as artwork

Quotations

"I chose these incidents in Selma because I could handle them with more detachment. But I was also influenced by my readings of James Baldwin. Perhaps we have not yet had a French events quite as dramatically as some American authors whom I happened to read. As I read translations of American books and American press reports, Once I had visualized what had happened almost like in a live TV show. Once I had visualized it, the rest was relatively easy, like sketching from real life. In a way, anything that i have fully visualize in already old-hat : I can then paint it without allowing any of the emotions of surprise or indignation to interfere. But I must feel these emotions first, when I’m actually visualizing an experience and before I begin to paint it."

"He’s just himself, Philippe Derome, very little about –isms and the théories and ideas of others."

"As well as the figurative his work is about otherness: the other who we know as little about as we know about ourselves."

Artworks

• Riot (1963)
• Selma marche (1968)
• Black head (1971)
• Le Flore (1973)
• Jusqu'à quand ? (1974)
• Skieurs (1976)
• Harmony (1987)
• Tank rouge (1994)
• AIDS, hotel Bailey, NY (1997)

Shows

• 1959 : Galerie Luc Burnap. Saint-Tropez. France
• 1960 : Luc Burnap Gallery. New York. USA
• 1967 : Biennale du Grand Palais, Paris (« Ph.Derome peint une conversation au Flore à la manière de Jean-Luc Godart », J. Warnod, le Figaro
• 1968 : Salon de Mai «A very hard-working young painter who knows what he wants and worries very little about –isms and the théories and ideas of others. » Edouard Roditi, NY Diplomat
• 1973 - 1980 : Galerie Annick Gendron Paris
• 1974 : Collection Jean Pierre Brasseur-Gregor. Munich (with a documentary realized by Fassbinder)
• 1978 : Marbella Club. Marbella

External links

• [1] Philippe Derome : Black paints
• [2] Philippe Derome : Paintings