1921-2003
Many sources cite Andre Gisson as a French painter born in 1910, but he was actually born Anders Gittelson in Brooklyn in 1921, and live much of his life in Westport, Connecticut. He wanted to project a closer alignment with the founders of the Impressionist movement. He was a graduate of the Pratt Institute, and during World War II was a captain in the Army. However, his paintings reflect his extensive travels and studies in Europe and the Far East and his desire to appear cosmopolitan in background.
Gisson's landscapes, beach scenes, and portraits were intended to create a reflective mood of serenity. His still lifes show Japanese influence in his work, while the French influence is more pronounced in his landscapes, beach scenes and studies of the human figure.
Gisson believed that it is the role of the artist to extend or "explain" perception and feeling and in this way enlarge the total human vision...."Flowers for me are a way of feeling certain effects of light and conversely, light is a means for expressing something very personal about the way I experience flowers."
"When I begin to paint, certain remembered sensations come to me and it is these that I translate into visual form and related subjects. These subjects-- people, the nude, florals, landscapes, beaches, etc., recur constantly like obsessive memories. For the most part they are the common universal experiences of all of us, neither contemporary nor out of an antique past, but with a sentiment which I hope is recognizable to others at any time."
Sources:
Warner Bonner of Atlanta, Georgia
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art, Anthony Winston, October 2003
