Augustin Lesage est un peintre médiumnique français (1876-1954). Issu d’une famille de mineurs, il travaille dans les mines après avoir obtenu son certificat d’études en 1890. Sa vie prend un tournant inattendu en 1911 lorsqu’il entend des voix lui dire qu’un jour il deviendra peintre. Sous la dictée des esprits, il commence à créer des œuvres caractérisées par des compositions géométriques et symétriques. Admiré par des personnalités telles qu’André Breton, Jean Dubuffet il devient une figure majeure de l’art brut.
This annoted catalog analyses by various specialists such as Michel Thévoz, the first director of the Compagnie de l'Art Brut in Lausanne, and Sarah Lombardi, an art historian who has been director of the same institution for several years now, Dr. Patrick Martin-Mattera, university professor, Dr. Jacques Vazeille psychiatrist.
An important documentation illustrates the work : testimonies, writings, photographs, bibliography, exhibitions. The catalogue raisonné section in the last part lists 250 paintings out of the estimated 500 not yet destroyed and which remain in circulation around the world. Indeed, works in both Europe and America remain anonymously within important private collections.
This annoted catalog dedicated to the artist Augustin Lesage, prefaced by the art historian Michel Thévoz, is intended as a new reference tool for both the actors of the art market and the amateur or seasoned collector.
The author, Pierre Guénégan, has been working for many years on the work of Augustin Lesage. He is regularly consulted for his expertise during auctions to issue certificates of authenticity.