Original Artist

Albert Coste is a French painter born in Marseilles in 1895. His mother, a musician, introduced him to music, which he practiced all his life. In 1909, he followed the courses of the Beaux Arts in Marseille and those of the music conservatory at the same time.
A tram accident in 1916 forced him to amputate the index and middle fingers of his left hand. He is definitively reformed, and his career as a cellist is compromised. From then on he devoted himself more particularly to painting and continued his studies in Paris in the studio of Cormon.

In 1919 he married Paulette Sallé, who was a concert pianist and whom he had known in Marseilles. They live in a Porte de Versailles workshop.

From there, he participated in numerous collective exhibitions, and in Salons in Paris, and in Aix-en-Provence, met Maurice Denis and frequented his studio.

In 1922, he settled around Aix while continuing to participate in the main collective exhibitions in Paris (Indépendants, Réalités Nouvelles, Salon d’Automne, etc.). In 1933, in Aix-en-Provence, he had his first personal exhibition , presented by Maurice Denis.

In 1935 he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts in Aix en Provence.

In 1941-42, he met Albert Gleizes in Saint Rémy de Provence and remained deeply linked to him until his death. Gleizes presents in particular the exhibition he made of his works in 1942 in Aix.

He carried out many decorations for public buildings and particularly the Faculty of Law of Aix, whose architect is Fernand Pouillon.

In 1953, he participated in a collective exhibition with Gleizes, Delaunay, Villon, Herbin, Léger;

in 1967 with Calder, Masson, Messagier.

From 52 to 56 he organized exhibitions to publicize the work of Gleizes and his disciples.

In 1980, he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Belles-Lettres of Aix.

He is a painter with a very great technique and a man of great culture, for whom painting, music, which he continued to practice, and poetry gave his raison d’être to life.

First painting still lifes and various subjects in a spirit close to Gauguin and the Nabis, he then embarked on the path of abstraction, with compositions very close to Gleizes, then in keeping with his general spirit of art. post-war French abstraction, around Bissière, Manessier, Lapicque and others

Works by Coste in museums:

PARIS (Albert Gleizes Foundation)

MARSEILLES (Longchamp Museum)

ARLES (Reattu Museum)

CARPENTRAS (City Museum)

SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE

Bibliography: Albert Coste, The Music of Colors by Bernard Muntaner, Paul Tacussel editor, 1990