Biography

PH.P. Lagrange was born on November 7, 1941, in Besançon (France). Having pursued studies of very limited interest, he made an early entry in 1955, by an exceptional waiver, to the regional School of Fine Arts of Besançon. After three years concluded with an exam (CAFAS), he would be the youngest candidate in France. He distinguished himself by winning the second prize in painting in 1958. Then enrolled for the following three years in the national diploma in sculpture under the guidance of sculptors Jacques Voitot and Georges Oudot, which he obtained in 1961. Afterwards, he tried the national painting diploma as well, under the direction of Jean Ricardon, but it was refused in 1964 by a jury that was behind the times. On that occasion, he encountered in Paris, on the Champs Élysée, the truck carrying the sculpture “Van Gogh,” a bronze, and its author sitting at the back, feet on the tailgate, Ossip Zadkine, pipe in mouth. Parenthesis required: military service starting from 1963 to December 31, 1964. For the first few months, he nonetheless waxed and maintained Napoleon Bonaparte's office at the Auxonne Barracks, then from 1964 to 1969 he dedicated himself to teaching within the national education system and municipal courses. He accepted, on a temporary basis, a position as a desk assistant. Listed as eligible for the role of heritage curator from 1977 to 1978, he was officially appointed on April 1, 1978. Retired in 2001. He would enjoy the privilege of spending years, almost daily, with masterpieces and greeting according to the mood Filippino Lippi, Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Bronzino, Lucas Cranach, Tintoretto, Jordaens, Simon Vouet, Elisabetta Sirani, Goya, J.D. Ingres, J.L. David, Th. Gericault, and as they say: etc... I’ll leave out the rest. But at the same time – a double life – Lagrange never put down the brush, never stopped preserving his practice of painting. On the side, as a free marginal, producing was not the goal. Exhibitor, little by little, he charts his path, adjusts his artistic means. He knows that images gain or lose new implications. They make sense, and like all languages, they fade or come alive again: to create, to give, to share meaning, clarity. A painting tugs at your sleeve, "hey!" the painter has something to tell you, in his own way, about today or distances himself, disperses, meaning in sheer loss. Provincial, but an occasional traveler, he is shaped by a few rare circumstances, discoveries, or true coups de foudre, ongoing education. In Paris, he attended a performance by the Mime Marceau at the Théâtre de l’Ambigu in 1956. And around 1964, Lagrange spoke with the artist at his hotel the day after his performance at the Théâtre de la Ville in Besançon for a charity event. And, at uncertain dates between 1961 and 1964, he attended Beckett’s play "Waiting for Godot" at the Théâtre de l’Odéon (set by Giacometti) and Ionesco’s "Rhinoceros". More recently in Colmar, at the museum, the terrible vision of Grunewald's Isenheim Altarpiece. In April 1973, invited to the magic congress of the 'Magic' club in Geneva. In 1975, trip to Ravenna and Venice, very memorable: Carpaccio. In 1983, visit to Antwerp, the House of Rubens. In 1985, in Padua, the Scrovegni Chapel. In 1988, in Washington, sees Picasso's 'The Family of Saltimbanques' from 1905. And in 1993, visits the real Lascaux Cave. On the wall, the outline of a rectangle!...The end