Paul Rebeyrolle (1926–2005)

An article (Le peintre et sculpteur Paul Rebeyrolle est mort, February 7) from France 2 Cultural News relates the news of the disappearance of Paul Rebeyrolle, the "greatest naturalist artist in recent French history," according to Jean-Louis Prat, former director of the Fondation Maeght.

Rebeyrolle was always opposed to the injustice that oppresses us. In his series, On dit qu'ils ont la rage [They say they have rabies], a man disfigured with hate violently kicks a dog in a wheelbarrow into the water. [...] Rebeyrolle's strong work, appreciated by philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Michel Foucault but not by a collector like François Pinault, was not universally seductive. For Jean-Louis Prat, "if the public does not know his work, it's the museums' fault. The fact that the Musée national d'art moderne at the Centre Pompidou does not have a single Rebeyrolle work in its collection is an inexcusable fault."

There was a great interview piece on this artist (Rebeyrolle : L'antre de l'ogre, June 27, 2003) by Franz-Olivier Giesbert for Le Point. You can see some of his paintings and sculptures at the Espace Paul Rebeyrolle, a little museum opened in the town where he was born, Eymoutiers, near Limoges.

UPDATE:
See also Hervé Gauville, Rebeyrolle le rebelle se fait la belle (Libération, February 8).