COLBERT CASSAN
( 1899 - 1979 )
A very beautiful large signed oil on canvas by the musician and painter Colbert Cassan. The painter studied and worked around Avignon and in Paris and was a great jazz lover and set up his own Orchestra. He was also an avid Opera lover and travelled across Europe to listen and to paint scenes from the Opera and tribute paintings to the great master composers.
This example depicts an hommage to Rimsky Korsakov the famous Russian composer and shows likely a scene from his Opera “Sadko”.
Title: “Hommage to Rimsky Korsakov - Sadko Opera”
Signature: Signed lower left and dated 1971
Medium: Oil on canvas
Provenance: Private french collection
Size: c. 21 x 29 inches unframed / 28 x 36 inches framed
Condition: Very good unrestored original condition - a few small marks
Born on December 16, 1899 in Montbrun-les-Bains (Drôme). His father is a cobbler and bootmaker. In 1904, the family moved to Avignon. Alongside his schooling, Colbert Cassan was a student at the School of Music and the School of Fine Arts. In these two establishments in Avignon, he obtained the 1st Prize for violin in 1913, and the 1st Prize for drawing and wash in 1914. He enrolled at the Ecole Normale. In 1918, he was appointed teacher at the Lycée Frédéric Mistral in Avignon. For thirty-seven years, and by choice, he taught in the same 7th grade class of this high school. From the 1930s, he participated in Avignon cultural life. In particular, he gives lectures on famous musicians and painters. He is called by Edouard Daladier as artistic advisor. He is Principal Violin of the Avignon Opera orchestra. A jazz lover, he created an orchestra, Bambalina's Jazz. His taste for opera took him to Salzburg, Milan, Lucerne, Vienna, Paris and especially Bayreuth to attend performances of operas by Wagner, his favorite composer. At the same time, Colbert Cassan, in his house in Montbrun-les-Bains, where he spends his weekends, practices painting. He does this for his personal pleasure and does not show his paintings. In his painted work, the portraits of musicians, created over the decades, undoubtedly constitute the most original and personal ensemble. He died in Sussargues, in Hérault, on October 5, 1979. He was an officer of the Academic Palms.
