Born in Marseille, he shows, at a very early
age, an innate faculty for the arts, favored in it by his mother,
amateur of art and descendant of the sculptor Simon. However,
his father, an established merchant, sees things otherwise. The
paternal taste for profit obliges Joseph to study business in
Lyon. Armed with the necessary diplomas, he immersed himself in
the business. He will last ten years.
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Paysage de l'Orxois
Oil on board. Private collection |
In 1900, he leaves his job. Delivered of a long
time suppressed frustration, Le Tessier gives himself, body and
soul, to painting. He is 33 years old; his future is still in
front of him. He studies tirelessly works from the painters from
Lyon, Carrand, Vernay, and Ravier. His first and last exhibition
takes place in Lyon in 1911. It is a triumph.
Begin then for Le Tessier, his wife and their
daughter Marthe, a long wandering that brings them, during World
War I, in the Yonne, in Voutenay. The painter achieves there,
numerous oils of small formats, all treated on the nabi model
beloved of Emile Bernard and Paul Sérusier.
He arrives in Vincennes in 1925. Le Tessier discovers
the art galleries of the capital and is enthusiastic about Vlamick,
Modigliani, and Soutine. His daughter Marthe learns the etching
process and the sale of her works helps the family to support
misery.
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Vieux moulin près de Noroy-sur-Ourq
Oil on board. Private collection |
In 1933, the Le Tessier family lands in the middle
of the country in the south of Aisne. Noroy-sur-Ourcq is a small
village perched on the heights, overlooking the valley of the
Ourcq, and Jean Racine's native country. The material life of
the Le Tessier organizes itself somehow.
For Le Tessier, Noroy will be the place of the
accomplished miracle. His pictorial writing has finally arrived
to maturity. Taken of an irrepressible vital impulse, the 66 years
old painter suddenly asserts a radiant youth. It is the triumph,
the explosion of colors, and a permanent firework! From morning
till night, he walks the Orxois' paths, his painter's gear under
the arm. He looks avidly at the surrounding nature: the curvaceous
hills of the Orxois, wheat fields flooded with sun, the Marne
valley quivering with light, still-life astounding of colorful
lyricism…
The painter "with the illuminated" palette dies
in July 1949, at the age of 82, leaving behind him more than six
hundred paintings and not a penny… En 1952, three years after
his death, a retrospective of his work takes place in Lyon. Unanimously,
the art critics praise Le Tessier's uncommon genius.
Translated from a text by Noël Coret, "Les peintres
de la vallée de la Marne, autour de l'impressionnisme". Published
by Casterman
