There are words with universal value which one need only mention to conjure up very definite pictures. Such was the art of Fournet.

One of the best known landscape artists of his time, Fournet was born in 1911, in Paris, into a family of artists. His first instructions in art came from his father, Jean Fournet, a well established painter, whose guidance inspired young Fournet to continue his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts Germain Pilon. He apprenticed under master painters Seratzki, Desire, Lucas, Montezin, and most significantly, Gernez, from whom he adopted a strong appreciation for the countryside and the many images along the shores of Brittany, Normandy and Vendee.

Through his mentorship under these great landscape artists, Fournet embraced and internalized Nature. Attributes such as those made the outdoors his atelier. When man’s activities of the day ceased, and Nature was once again uninterrupted, he would take to the quietness his canvasses, and interweave images of man’s remnants, against the vastness of land and sea, and the dimensions of color and light.

With a fresh awareness of the way shifting light constantly fashions anew the physical world, Fournet captured in flecks of paint the very vibrancy of air, the very density of form, the very beauty and permanence of Nature. His marine works are an eloquent salute to those timeless symbols of the infinite, the ocean and the horizon, powerful in their profound simplicity.

Fournet’s ventures into nature were applauded with several successful exhibitions in Paris, in which he was awarded numerous prizes. He was a member of the Societe des Artistes Francais, and was featured regularly at the Salon des Artistes Francais, Salon d’Hiver and the Salon des Independents. His works have been shown in the premiere galleries of Paris: the Champs Elysees, La Colline, Galerie du Village and Galerie de la Butte, as well as in several galleries in Belgium, New York and Buenos Aires.