Work
Galerie du Haut Pave, in Paris. (This gallery was, and still is, known as one of the foremost Parisian venues for
talented young artists and was, in Claude's time, under the purview of Raoul Dufy and Henri Matisse.) While living
the life of a young French artist in 1950's Paris, Claude continued to work and exhibit (at Le Soleil dans la Tete in
Paris; the Galerie Alphonse Chave in St. Paul de Vence). Although largely self taught, and greatly influenced by
artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Kurt Schwitters, Claude also studied under Fernand Leger.
In 1962, in Paris, Claude met Mary, and they soon departed for San Francisco. (The two artists had corresponded
with Allen Ginsberg, and subsequently, with poet/publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti's encouragement, they left for
America). In San Francisco the two quickly found themselves in the midst of the flourishing West Coast art scene,
and struck up lifetime friendships and creative associations with Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg and Charles Plymell (poet
and printer of Zap Comics). Soon after, in 1965, they left for New York City, where they lived and worked for
several years, spending all of 1969 living at the Chelsea Hotel, where they became friends and worked with such
writers and artists as William Burroughs, Ed Sanders, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe and Harry Smith (who
would later live with them for a time in the 1980's).
Other travels followed (to England and France); other artistic collaborations flourished (with William Burroughs and
Brion Gysin); and various media were explored (Claude wrote poetry - "Pilote Automatique", published by City
Lights; and both of them translated Burroughs and Ginsberg into French; designed book covers; and illustrated
literary works). Throughout this time, Claude continued with his collages, exhibiting at various galleries in Paris
and Caen; at the Mohammed Gallery in Genoa, Italy; at the Biennale de Sao Paolo in Brazil; at the Centre
Pompidou, Beaubourg, in Paris; at the Suzan Cooper Gallery in New York.
Claude and Mary wed in 1975, and settled in upstate New York - first in Cooperstown, then in the nearby small town
of Norwich. It was there that the two quietly lived and constantly worked - Claude always exploring, always
experimenting, always finding new ways to deconstruct and reinterpret the world that had always been both his
inspiration and provocation - until, ill with cancer and diabetes, he passed away on December 20, 2002.