Claude Weisbuch

His subjects came from the worlds he loved most: opera, classical music, the circus, and equestrian sport. Harlequins, Pulcinellas, violinists mid-bow, discus throwers, jockeys leaning into turns - these figures appear across hundreds of etchings and lithographs as compressed bundles of energy rather than portraits. From 1960 to 1987 he taught engraving at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Saint-Etienne, passing his technical precision to a generation of students while producing his most intense prints in parallel.

International recognition arrived steadily. His first Paris solo show was in 1957; the national critics awarded him their annual prize in 1961. In the 1970s he joined Galerie Tamenaga, which mounted major exhibitions in Paris, Tokyo, and New York, bringing his work to collectors across three continents. His prints and paintings entered the permanent collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Musee National d'Art Moderne, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the Staaliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich; and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1997 the French government awarded him the Legion d'Honneur. A full retrospective at the Orangerie in the domain of Madame Elisabeth at Versailles followed in 2011, three years before his death in Paris in April 2014.

His lithographs, typically issued in numbered editions of 125 to 250, are the works most commonly found at auction. On the Nordic market, Weisbuch surfaces primarily at Swedish houses: Fineart accounts for the majority of his 31 recorded appearances on Auctionist, with further lots at Orebro Stadsauktioner and Stockholms Auktionsverk. Realized prices in Sweden and Norway tend toward the lower tier of his international range, with signed color lithographs such as his Diskuskastare and Man i rorelse editions settling between 350 and 620 SEK - modest sums compared to major European auction results, but reflecting steady collector interest in his graphic work.