Charles-Henri Clavien

Posthumous exhibition by the artist Charles-Henri Clavien

"For me, the most important thing is light. And the opposition of colours gives a certain movement..." Charles

The exhibition will be introduced at the opening by Michel H. Favre, Exhibition Curator.

CHARLES-HENRI CLAVIEN, known as Charles
The Valais painter Charles, born in Miège, left a priceless legacy. His ex-wife Adelia Clavien (also a painter) and Charles's family are paying tribute to him with a posthumous exhibition of a selection of his works at Adelia's ART for YOU gallery in Sierre. The exhibition will be opened by Michel H. Favre, Curator of Exhibitions.

Adelia has chosen to exhibit these works because "everyone deserves to discover the life's work of a passionate and talented man"! This second posthumous exhibition is a tribute to the man he was, and an opportunity for the public to see his many paintings in a wide range of techniques, including oil, pastel, acrylic, xylography, linocut, charcoal and watercolour. A true prodigy of his time, first in his class at the Cantonal School of Fine Arts, Charles devoted his life to art.

Charles is a Swiss painter born in 1952 in Valais. He grew up in a family of 4 children in Miège, a small village on the right bank of the Rhône. Initially apprenticed as an upholsterer-decorator, he quickly developed a passion for art and painting. Freshly qualified from his first trade, he devoted himself completely to his passion and studied at the Ecole Cantonale des Beaux-Arts in Sion. He graduated top of his class in 1979. He rounded off his knowledge with a course in xylography at the International School of Engraving in Urbino (Italy) in 1980.

He quickly created an artistic universe shaped by the human body, nature and colour. Dominated by vivid, precise movements, his paintings reveal forms that are sometimes real, sometimes unreal. His full name, Charles-Henri Clavien, has now given way to the simple "Charles".

At the end of the 1970s, he embarked on a ten-year marathon of exhibitions. He exhibited in Sion (1979), Montana (1985), Sierre (1986), Carouge (1987) and Mirandela, Portugal (1989). He has been commissioned for various private projects, including a mural in a house in Vercorin in 1983.

A keen traveller and explorer in his spare time, his curiosity also extends to his art. Throughout his career, he has experimented with various techniques, notably xylography and acrylics. His favourite medium, however, remains oil.

L’art ne suffisant malheureusement pas à subvenir à ses besoins, il devient poseur de sols et y travaille de longues années. Dès lors, il poursuit sa passion, la peinture. Charles, nous quitte le 10 juillet 2017, un mois avant le début de sa retraite alors qu’il prévoyait de se consacrer pleinement à sa carrière artistique pour ses vieux jours.