Anselme Boix-Vives French nationality Born in Castellon, Catalonia, on January 3rd, 1899 Dies in Moûtiers on August 26th, 1969

Coming from a poor family of nine children, Anselme is unable to attend school. At the age of eighteen, he moves to France. Using the name of Anselme Bois, he works in a factory, on a farm, in the mines. He works relentlessly for “forty-eight hours a day”, as he liked to say, and is able to realize his dream in 1926 by acquiring a fruit and vegetable shop on main street in Moûtiers. His commercial success does not, however, let him forget where he came from, and following a long time wish of his, he drafts a “peace plan” to make the world a better world and to help resolve all the problems of the planet. The first edition of his manifest L’Union Mondiale - l’avenir du monde comes out on April 3rd, 1956. He sends it to General de Gaulle, the Queen of England, the Pope...

March 16th, 1957: first conference on his “Plan mondial”. His fellow citizens make fun of him and Anselme is terribly hurt by the non-response to his writings. 1962 is a terrible year for him: his wife dies; he leaves his shop to one of his sons. His son Michel encourages him to paint, remembering that his father used to scribble drawings on the back of his store invoices. Anselme Boix-Vives seeks refuge in his new found utopia and begins a new life devoted to painting.

Seven intense years (from July 1962 to July 1969) end up in more than two thousand paintings: gouaches, oils (ripolin oils), drawings. Seven years surrounded by kings, chaplains, lunar beings, heroes of the 20th century like Kennedy or Martin Luther King, and also TV commentators like Catherine Langeais, regular people (his series of “concierges”), scenes form every day life (weddings), actors (Michel Simon), current events (The March on Washington) and biblical scenes (Deposition). Snapshots of our times from the middle of a flamboyant jungle. Still wearing his greengrocer’s apron, Anselme Boix-Vives has a special place in the world of Art Brut. His world is the one of this century, which means so much to him, and he tries to represent it without knowing anything about its styles or its arts. Anselme Boix-Vives was a self-taught man, a poet, and a dreamer.

SEE ALSO: SAINSAULIEU (Marie-Caroline). Anselme Boix-Vives, Sylvio Acatos, Lausanne, 1998. JACQUEMOND (Jean-Dominique). Anselme Boix-Vives, La Différence, Paris, 1990.

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