Her life, her work. (version française de la biographie, cliquez ici >>)
Laurence SUTTON was born in Paris on 21 June 1928, her family name was Weber. Her parents whose family included generations of artists, recognized an early flair for drawing, and encouraged her to pursue her talent….
In 1949 she is admitted to the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Nantes (Nantes Art School), then from 1950 she studies drawing, architecture and design till she no longer finds the teaching she had hoped to find even though she is unable to explain why. In 1951 she meets the statuary Robert COUTIN, restorer in charge of the Cathedral of Reims, disciple of BOUDELLE, of Andre LHOTE and honored friend of Henri FOCILLON. COUTIN was also the descendent of several generations of sculptors who transmitted a teaching that reaches back through epochs as distant as Roman and Gothic art. Laurence recognizes that what she had been looking for was precisely a form of art that she had now found in this type of transmission from a source of a living language.
After four years of intensive monastic study and one year at the School of Fine Art in Milan (Beaux Art de Milan), she marries Mel.R.SABRE, an American lieutenant, parachuted into France behind the lines at Utah Beach the night of 6 June 1944 at the age of 19. Later, he obtained a grant for studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. They have an only son, Mike SABRE, who is now a Luthier.
The family move to Monaco, then to New York; Laurence becomes used to the fast-paced American city where she works as an illustrator for publicity agencies and publications such as The New York Times and Newsweek. However, she continues to draw for herself, consolidating her own form of art... She does numerous full foot portraits creating a very personal “universe” for each of her models. She earns appreciation amongst some of the most well know celebrities of Long Island which result in advantageous commissions.
After the death of her husband, Laurence returns to France and is recruited by the Editor Hachette for a long term project on the history of civilizations alongside future famous illustrators of comics, Jean GIRAUD (Moebius) and Jean Claude MEZIÈRES as well as painter Constantin Andrieu NEPO. Then, in 1965, she works for Editors such as LAROUSSE, HATIER, ROMBALDI on similar projects.
In 1970, she is appointed Art Teacher where, for four years, she teaches drawing at the “Famous Artist School” of Monte Carlo.
In 1974, in response to her spiritual search, she leaves for England to spend a year in Sherborne House, Cheltenham at the Academy for Continuous Education Institute for the Comparative Study of Science, Philosophy, Art and Religion, with Mathematician, Director of Industrial Research and Philosopher John G BENNET. Here she hopes to find a source of inspiration for a new direction to her life and work. Later, during her travels, drawing and painting, the Orient attracts her and she makes several journeys to Turkey, Egypt, the southern Sahara, India, Cashmere, Ladak, and Nepal. During these travels, she records her impressions in numerous notebooks with pencil and watercolor illustrations.
In 1978, she marries British subject Mike SUTTON, and returns to illustration, now in the publicity sector. This art form corresponds better to her temperament and she continues her work over ten years where she forges a place for herself queening the sector where the “ROUGH” is king. The most prestigious publicity agencies, where the principal clients are international industries, constantly uphold commissions and assignments that keep Laurence busy, sometimes both night and day.
1988 marks a turn in her artistic career when she begins her first “canvas” oil paintings. Laurence painted her everyday surroundings, under the Paris roofs seen from the sixth floor of her “quartier Latin” (Latin Quarter) studio: street scenes, markets, landscapes, and American tourists visiting the Eifel Tower, or the Louvre museum, or café terraces. Her natal Paris became the source of inspiration for the majority of her work.
Mastering a rare technique, with a teaching and long-lost artistic knowhow, as she insisted unambiguously and without concern for others’ reaction, she did not seek photographic accuracy. Her principal intention was to capture the effects of modulated light and shadow. Her objective was not to represent story forms, but to express her perception of a much larger universal symbolism. International critics praised her work, naming her "REALISM INSPIRED."
Laurence SUTTON did not look upon art as a game, nor as pleasure but as a mission; as work on herself, as a vison to transmit….
During her life, she created tirelessly and worked hard both professionally and personally, with impressive productivity. This site is a mere tip of the iceberg of what Laurence created bearing in mind that her career of “painter” did not start until 1988 when she was already 60 years old.
The drawings, sketches, illustrations, pencil portraits, publicity works, and travel sketches are included as examples of the diversity and scope of Laurence’ talent.
Laurence SUTTON died at the age of 85, on october 22nd 2013, at Carcassonne.
Laurence SUTTON, peintre et illustratrice
