Pierre Bittar was born February 13th, 1934 and began to draw and paint at the age of five. He studied at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts but found that museums were his real school, where he was able to contemplate works by the great artists. Pierre Bittar paints primarily in Europe and America. His subjects include coastal scenes and villages mostly of the Mediterranean and Caribbean. He is greatly inspired by the French Impressionists but has developed an entirely distinctive style, characterised by a strong use of light and attention to atmosphere. Bittar paints outdoors, on location, believing that “A communion establishes itself between the painter and nature which needs the awareness of all the senses. The smell and feel are as important as the view.”
When he was twenty-two he won first prize at the Academy of Leonardo da Vinci, the first of many prizes he has received during his flourishing career. In 1973 he was awarded a medal for artistic achievement at the Salon du Chesnay. Six years later he was awarded the coveted gold medal at the Salon des Artistes Français, at the Grand Palais in Paris. A study of his life and work, ‘Pierre Bittar’, was published in 1986. Between 1986 and 1991 he held four one man shows, all of which received critical acclaim.
Exhibited: Salon des Artistes Français ; Salon de la Marine; Salon des Peintres du Côteau ; Salon du Chesnay
