Spring time, and one on the most vivid sights in Burgundy is the cherry blossom in full flower around Irancy near Auxerre. This has been the home of Parisian painter Georges Hosotte for many years, and the surrounding countryside, one of his principle sources of inspiration. His paintings hang all over the world from Japan to U.S.A.

If comparisons are to be drawn, it would be to a modern day Monet. Water, reflections, and light typify Hosotte’s work and he is as proficient in the medium of watercolour as he is with the oil. It is colour however which he excels in; the pictures are lively, even when the subject is a winter scene. Fields of poppies,
cherry orchards, water lilies, ponds and streams; the villages of Burgundy feature strongly, capturing the ever changing and dramatic skies of the region. He also produces some life drawings and paintings.

Georges Hosotte trained as an architect which explains his good eye for perspective. He became a successful painter at a young age and has lived off the income from his pictures for 40 years now. Of course the style has evolved, with more emphasis at present on the abstract form, but the subject matter has changed little. It is the local landscapes which still captivate him.

Clearly feeling close to nature, he produces work that is colourful, happy and eye-catching. …‘a picture is like a prayer’ he says, ‘saying thank you for life.’

A charming book of Hosotte’s work, together with short poems in French by Gerald-Henry Vuillien, is available, price 50 euros, from the Vézelay gallery.

http://www.burgundytoday.com/arts-crafts/visual-arts/georges-hosotte.htm