About Myself
My mother's maiden name was Honor Gell and both her grandfather and father were fine water colour artists. She was 17 when she left England to study painting in Paris, at the Académie Julian. She established herself as a professional painter and married Emmanuel David, a lawyer, who later became one of France's leading art dealers. His first gallery was in the Faubourg St. Honoré, opposite the Elysée Palace, his second in Avenue Matignon. Bernard Buffet was one of his artists, and he took Bernard into the limelight of French modern art. While in Paris my mother met the Delaunays, Derain, and other famous painters of that time.
In 1935, with her two children Philippe & Sylvette, my mother left the turbulent Parisian life to go to the Ile du Levant, where a group of people lived a simple life was based on natural health, an island off the Provence coast. It was here that she met Marcel Lassalle.
1936, her husband David came and took away Philippe to a school in Avignon. She wanted another son, found that Lassalle could not have children... so she went to Paris to see a painter friend named Henri Valensi, and in the few days of her visit, conceived a boy.
Henri Valensi came originally from Algiers where his family had a shipping business; at nineteen he moved to Paris to paint. His paintings are in many museums around the world: Japanese, Austrian, Hungarian, and French, including the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
On the 7th of December, 1937 I was born in Nice. A few days later my mother took me to the island where Lassalle accepted me as his own son. As a child, I spent a great deal of my time creating, drawing, painting, sculpting.
In 1942 Lassalle was killed in Germany, and my mother, Sylvette, and myself moved to Dieulefit in the Drôme. In 1951 Sylvette and I went to A.S. Neill's Summerhill School in England where I stayed until 1953. My mother moved to Vallauris, a potter’s town on the Côte d’Azur.
In 1954 Sylvette met Picasso and he asked her to pose for him, subsequently creating 46 oil portraits, drawings and sculptures during this time. I was seventeen at the time, met him a few times in his studio, and was impressed by his artistic presence and genius. In those days I spent most of my time painting. Art is an integral part of my life.
My step father, Emmanuel David told me one day, when I was visiting his art gallery, "there are 60,000 painters in France, only one will make it!". He then advised me to go into advertising. So in 1953 I moved to Paris to study in the studios of the famous Master Affichiste, Paul Colin. I studied drawing, poster design, water colour and gouache.
In 1955 I moved to London, this time to study painting at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. I had some of my posters on the London walls and Underground(subway). Finding that advertising was too false, I decided to quit advertising to spend all my time with the fine arts.
Keith Vaughn, Jackson Pollock, Allan Reynolds, Hans Tisdall, Lesley Coles, Hugh Horton, and Hugh Stanton were among my teachers. I obtained a first prize in the end of the year show, which was a scholarship that allowed me to stay another year.
One day, on my return from a holiday in Vallauris, I was struck by the beauty of the model in art class. She was called Mélinda Orton, and later, in August 1959, we married. We have since had 7 children together.
We moved to France in 1958 and stayed in Vallauris where my mother had a small lampshade shop. Mélinda and I survived by painting on pottery and silk, while I went on with my own painting. In 1960 we decided that life on the côte d’azur is too sleepy, and so we moved to Paris where I continued to paint.
Lucianne, our first child, was born, followed by Miriam and Richard. Then a difficult situation arose: I found I was not being a good father, my work absorbed me too much, there was not enough income to lead a normal life. With much suffering I decided to quit painting, to concentrate on making money, and to spend time with my family.
I chose to sell antiques at the famous flea-market in St. Ouen, near Paris. QuicklyI became a specialist in XVIIth century furniture, pottery, glass, fabrics, metal-work and works of art: I found it a pleasure to deal in antiques and art. In 1965 we moved to England where two years later I opened a five story antique shop in the famous English town of Tunbridge-Wells.
My taste for colour and interior decoration quickly became recognised and orders started to come in to design interiors, furniture, gardens. I developed and revived an ancient egg tempera technique, and over twenty years, I painted murals in the Elizabethian manner in many homes, hotels, restaurants, and banks. Articles in Country life and other interior design magazines were written about my work as I became more well known. Jocasta Innes, in her book Paintability, showed my work and described my techniques over several pages. My frescoes became very popular, and my work can still be seen in Norway, USA, England, Indonesia and France.
In 1989, when our 7 children had left home, Mélinda and I decided to move back to France, to the Provence that we always loved. We bought an old ruin, that was originally a mas (small farm), and moved to the Beaumont du Ventoux in 1991. I restored it and with great excitement and pleasure started painting again in oils.
To help with finances, I accepted a commission to design the interior of a large commercial centre in Jakarta, Indonesia. It included a ten-metre-high crystal clock, several fountains, bronze sculptures, and four large murals. I restored, in the local church, the XVIIth century frescoe-secco; in the same church I also painted large murals of the life of St Roch.
We still live in the mas where I paint full time. I have sold paintings in France, England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Indonesia, and the USA. I have exhibited in England, France, and Austria.
It is in nature and allegory, from dream to reality that I find my inspiration, which I express through light and color.
Beaumont du Ventoux, August 2001
