André Gisson (New York, 1921-2003)

Many sources cite André Gisson as a French painter, but in fact he was simply a struggling New York City artist, who decided to enhance his reputation by claiming he was French and that he was born 11 years earlier. (1910) Both devices were intended to more closely align himself with the founders of the Impressionist movement. His real name was Anders Gittelson.

Gittelson was, in fact born in Brooklyn, and lived for most of his life in Westport, CT. He graduated from Pratt Institute and was an Army Captain during World War II. After the war and over four decades, his one-man gallery shows extended from New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Texas and California to London, Paris and Tokyo.

Reflective and serene, Gisson’s painting style was directly inspired by the French Impressionists. Like them, he mastered a technique that painted color as light, by manipulating paint and impasto with short, broken brushwork. Still life paintings, rendered in a softly romantic but vibrant palette are consistent throughout the artist’s oeuvre.

Paintings by André Gisson can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, DC and the Triton Museum of Art, in North Carolina. Among private collectors were President Lyndon B. Johnson and W. Somerset Maugham.