Champagne

Claude Loewer is a Swiss painter, born in 1917 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Very early on, the man is sensitized to painting and, in a more global way, to art (his parents are great amateurs). Nevertheless, his artistic ambition had to take its toll patiently: his family destined him to study literature (classical studies in Latin, Greek and Hebrew) which he would carry out. In 1936, the young Swiss man left his native land to settle in Paris and invest in his vocation. He first studied at two academies, Ranson and Colarossi, before entering the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where he studied for three years. In 1940, Claude Loewer returned to Switzerland, where he continued his studies at the La Chaux de Fond Art School, where he was influenced by many painters. Firstly, the artist's work is close to Fauvist paintings, then to the Expressionists with an asserted gesturality but which is nevertheless anchored in a sought-after figuration. His early research is very similar to a figuration close to cubist creations. Thereafter, the touch and the universe of the Swiss aesthete are characterised by the geometry and the non-figurative nature of his works, all techniques combined.

It was in 1953, in France, that the Swiss painter observed the fall of profession of his first tapestry, in the Atelier Raymond Picaud. Alongside the Aubussonnais licier, Claude Loewer produced until 1974, nearly 160 tapestry cartoons. He is one of the protagonists of the revival of 20th century tapestry, the artist leads this fight with some of the great names in tapestry. Among them, Jean Lurçat who said of him that he was his greatest competitor.