Pierre THÉRON (1918-2000) Sunflowers - Series of seven Conté pencil signed lower left and framed 50 x 64 cm Born in Nérac, Lot-et-Garonne, Pierre Théron studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, in the studios of René Buthaud and André Caverne. In 1942, he was awarded a scholarship to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied with André Lhote and Jean Dupas. Then he had to take refuge in the Tarn region of France to avoid compulsory labor in Germany. Returning to Paris after the Liberation, he took part in the avant-garde artistic life of Saint-Germain-des-Prés from 1945 onwards, making friends with Boris Vian, choreographer Roland Petit and the Frères Jacques. In 1957, he was awarded the Grand Prix des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris in the Drawing category. An exhibitor with the Indépendants and a member of the Paris School in the '50s, Pierre Théron chose to live in Bordeaux with his wife and five children.