Stephane Wrobel

1927-2007

Stephane Wrobel was born in 1927 into hard times.

He left his school in southern France after the eighth grade and began working in a nearby coal mine. This, however, was not to be his destiny. Keeping the company of a group of local artists, Stephane was soon taken under wing, and for a number of years lived with the duality of dark, laborious toil juxtaposed against the beauty and color of the art that he and his friends were creating.

At his first exhibit, the young artist was singled out and encouraged by the local press. He was 21 years old when he left the mines and headed to Paris with the determination to become an artist. Entranced by the color and life of Paris in the 1950s, Wrobel found himself in his element. He quickly gained the confidence of several well-known artists of this time - those who recognized his raw talent and sought to assist him in honing his already formidable skills.

Wrobel's first paintings for the public were purchased by an American ambassador; soon after, President Eisenhower acquired a series of watercolors that he gave as gifts to the diplomatic corps in Washington, D.C.

Wrobel's career saw many highs, and he won numerous awards throughout the world during his lifetime.

Stephane was the undisputed master of the Parisian street scene. As the last great painter from this genre's golden age, his deceased predecessors included such luminaries as Luigi Loir, Galien-Lalue, Cortes, Blanchard, Boyer and Griffo. Wrobel's intended for his paintings to shimmer with reflective light through his vivid palette and soft brushwork - to captures the energy and motion of the streets of Paris. His scenes of elegance and everyday life are said to bathe in the warmth of city lights: scenes of colorful mystique and beckoning beauty.

Source is the website of the artist.

From Benezit: Wrobel lived and works in Hamelet. He exhibits in the USA in Washington, Baltimore, New York and Miami; in France, he is a regular exhibitor at the Galerie Levasseur in Paris. In a style faintly remininiscent of Stanislas Lépine's, Wrobel mainly paints views of Paris, including the Seine, the gardens and the Grands Boulevards, inspired by a restrained Post-Impressionism. Museum and Gallery Holdings Douai (Mus. Militaire du Fort) Paris (Mus. de Montmartre)