JAMES COIGNARD (1925 - 2008) L’araire [Ard plough]

signed ‘J Coignard’ (lower right); signed and titled ‘L’araire/ J. Coignard’ (on the reverse) oil on canvas 31 x 60 cm Born in Tours, James Coignard began his career as a ceramicist before settling on the French Riviera, where he lived and worked, notably in Beaulieu-sur-Mer and later in Antibes. Immersed in the vibrant artistic milieu of the Côte d’Azur, he encountered artists such as Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, and Marc Chagall. From the late 1950s he devoted himself to painting and printmaking, notably developing the carborundum engraving technique with Henri Goetz in 1968, which became central to his artistic practice.