Biography

Fred Brouard, France (1944-1999)
The youngest of a large family, Fred Brouard was born on April 28, 1944 in Caen. His railway worker father sometimes took him to Paris where they visited museums while with his mother, he often walked on the Normandy beaches for which he retained a real passion. Very solitary, he creates an imaginary world from which he finds it difficult to escape. At 16, he was admitted to the Beaux-Arts in Rouen where he followed the classical teaching of the painter Savary and the sculptor Leleu. He was then admitted to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris, settled in Paris, married and became a father for the first time in 1964. Earning his living through odd jobs, he entered the workshop by Henri-Georges Adam who encouraged him to persevere in sculpture. He became the assistant of established sculptors including Alicia Penalba who took a liking to him. He contributes to the realization of many of her projects, discovering foundry and polyester working techniques with her. Penalba encourages him to create jewelry that will be sculpture models. Thanks to her, he exhibited for the first time in 1970 at the International Contemporary Art Jewelry Exhibition in Montreal. In 1973, he obtained a workshop at the artists’ house in Nogent sur Marne. He then met Emilio Marccioni who owns the SANTANGELO decoration store on Boulevard Saint Germain and is looking for sculptors capable of creating bronze sculpture furniture. This will be the start of a long collaboration which allows him to realize his dream of using the material in all its possibilities. At the same time, he continued to participate in numerous prestigious or more confidential exhibitions and to obtain prizes and rewards, both in France and abroad, until his death.
In 1976, he left Nogent sur Marne and set up his new workshop in Verneuil sur Seine where he hoped to find a new lease of life.
In 1978 his first personal exhibition took place at the Espace Ecureuil in Paris.
In 1984, he obtained a workshop in the city of Paris in the 15th arrondissement. In 1987, he began selling in Drouot as part of auctions dedicated to certain contemporary sculptors, at the initiative of Master Eric Couturier.
In 1990, an exhibition was reserved for him at the Galerie de l’Odéon on the theme of Mechanical Birds, unanimously acclaimed by critics as the consecration of Fred Brouard’s research on movement and wood. From 1991 to 1993, he continued to participate in numerous exhibitions and create works on request, some of which were monumental. From trips to Tahiti then to Guadeloupe, he returned dazzled by the flora and fauna, terrestrial and aquatic.
1996 was a year of research on the theme of Don Quixote by Cervantes from which a host of Don Quixote of all kinds, sizes and materials would be born.
In 1997, the birth of his first granddaughter inspired him to create a series of wooden toys, funny and beautiful at the same time, which are real sculptures.
Fred Brouard died of cancer on March 2, 1999.