Clotilde Aksin-Frappier : Artist Profile.
Clotilde Aksin-Frappier aims to reproduce what she sees while developing a freedom of perspective. Mastery of pastel techniques demands that she taps into her imagination, inventing: experimenting with a stroke, layering colours, emphasising an aspect of the drawing's structure, all the way down to tiny details that gradually reveal her sensation.
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If, at first glance, the viewer may be surprised by the realism of the painting, they are gradually invited to delve into a subtle arrangement of light and colours, where motif and abstraction alternately take center stage.​
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Clotilde Aksin-Frappier was born in the port city of Le Havre, France. It is in this city that Claude Monet painted 'Impression, Sunrise,' which gave its name to the Impressionist movement. And this may not be unrelated to Clotilde Aksin-Frappier's artistic pursuit of light. While studying Literature at La Sorbonne in Paris, she pursued a curriculum in Art History at the prestigious École du Louvre.
​As the borders opened up after the fall of the Soviet Union, young Russian artists broke free from traditional norms while drawing inspiration from Western culture. Clotilde Aksin-Frappier then moved to Moscow. There, she wrote articles for various Russian and French newspapers, including the magazine Ptuch (птюч), a playful, phonetic spelling of the Russian word 'птица' (ptitsa), which means 'bird' in English. Publications like 'Ptuch' played a crucial role in documenting these developments, and Clotilde Aksin-Frappier participated in these exciting times for young artists.
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Upon returning to France, she received training in screenplay writing and editing, areas in which she worked for several years. She edited numerous projects for exhibitions, especially for the Foundation and Gallery Maeght, commonly known as the Fondation Maeght in French, a renowned art institution located in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The Maeght family had strong connections to the modern and contemporary art scenes, and Clotilde Aksin-Frappier worked extensively on the archives of a family that had close ties to prominent artists such as Joan Miró, Picasso, and Pierre Bonnard.
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​Since 2008, she has been based in Port Louis, Brittany, where she continues her work in editing, conducts workshops, and creates commissioned films, as well as original documentaries. Since 2016, she has gradually returned to using pencils, pastels, and brushes, dedicating all her time to creative pursuits.
