Francois Fiedler

Francois Fiedler (1921-2001), born Fiedler Ferenc, was a Czechoslovakia-born French painter and printmaker. He was an artist in the Aime Maeght stable, which included Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, and Joan Miro. Fiedler was born in Kosice, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia). After receiving a Masters in Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Budapest, Fiedler moved to Paris with his first wife in 1946. She died six months later. To make money, he made sanctioned reproductions of famous paintings for museums, as well as small figurative paintings of his own. One day while looking at a pot of house paint, crackled by the sun, the artist decided to reproduce this process on canvas. After this, he quit figurative painting, finding expression in his new technique. Joan Miro saw one of Fiedler's paintings in a gallery and introduced him to the prominent gallerist and art dealer Aime Maeght. Through Maeght, he became close with Giacometti, Braque, Cesar, Ubac, Tal-Coat, Miro, Chagall, and many other artists. Fiedler was regularly featured in shows and his works were a regular feature in the Maeght Foundation publication, "Derriere le miroir." Fiedler began a series of etchings, some in very limited editions. Following the death of Maeght, Fiedler found a patron in the art photographer Daniel Kramer. Fiedler is one of the most important artists in the post-war Modernist School of Paris. He died in France in 2001.