Gustave Singier

Gustave Singier (11 February 1909, Warneton – 5 May 1984, Paris) was a Belgian non-figurative painter active in France as part of the new Paris School of Lyrical Abstraction and the Salon de Mai.

1936 could be considered to be a turning point in Singier's career as an artist: he met the painter Charles Walch who encouraged him as a painter, put him in contact with artistic circles and who began to exhibit Singier's work at numerous Parisian Salons from 1936.

In 1940, with World War II now underway, Singier was mobilized in the Belgian army and sent to Bagnols-on-Ceze after the German invasion of Belgium.

In 1941, Singier joined a group of young artists who showed their work in the exhibition 'Vingt Peintres de tradition francaise' (Twenty Painters of the French Tradition) at the Braun Gallery, an exhibition in defiance of the Nazi military occupation.

In common with many other painters of his generation, after the allied liberation of Western Europe, Singier discovered Kandinsky, Klee, Mondrian and - through them - abstract art.