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BONTE Eric, glass sculpture, permanent artist of the Galerie Capazza since 1989

Eric Bonte is a builder...


Builder architect, creator of living spaces,
He needs to give himself a framework in which he thrives in harmony.
He is, in the middle of a whole, whose appearance and feeling he needs to conceive by the menu.


A dream builder, he builds his desires,
Giving life to his own follies, since it is enough to say, want and do.
He is a creator, in his world and in his life, and never ceases to convert the smallest signs to his own reality, to his own need for emotions.


Sculptures, paintings, domes each express his presence in the space-time ...
It is movement, volume, matter, light ...
He is All, he is Nothing ... he is human in his candor, in his innocence, he is dust, pierced by the divine breath of absolute faith in existence, in what makes Life.


Claude Dessus, extract from the Catalogue of the exhibition at La Galerie Capazza, 2015

Biography

Eric Bonte was born in Paris in 1956.

After graduating from high school, he entered the National School of Applied Arts and Crafts, Olivier de Serres, in Paris.

The school offers a varied teaching: drawing, painting, interior architecture, space design, publicity, in addition to general subjects of languages ​​and letters ... he also chooses the specialty stained glass, for the infinite possibilities he feels to a work related to the color, the light, the attraction for an artistic and technical approach at the same time ...

Upon leaving school in 1979, he took a workshop in Issy les Moulineaux 

Resuming a workshop was for him the means to bring together a professional experience and a creative adventure. Artist and entrepreneur, creator and manager ... it's about giving oneself the means to create, to express oneself, to exist through his art.

1979- 1988: Eric Bonte stained glass windows, Issy les Moulineaux (France)
During all these years he was entrusted with prestigious projects, for the Plaza Athénée, or the Hotel Raphaël in Paris or for the headquarters of Cap Gémini Sogetti in Paris ... He became the glassmaker of Jean Bazaine, and realized for him the St Dié des Vosges cathedral windows, St Guénolé Penmarch chapel ....  and restores St Séverin church’s  stained glass windows, in Paris.                   

At the same time he participates in many exhibitions for personal creations. He exhibited in Strasbourg Galerie Paskine de Gignoux, in Geneva Gallery Three, in Paris Quartz Gallery, in Nançay Galerie Capazza. In 1985 he was part of the selection for the Cobourg Prize ....

1987 - ... :France Vitrail International, Nanterre, then Courbevoie (France)

In 1987 he was entrusted with the realization of the stained glass windows of the Yamoussoukro basilica in Ivory Coast. The most important order in the history of stained glass : 8400 m2 of stained glass. France Vitrail International is created for this colossal project (three and a half times the surface of the stained glass windows of the Chartres cathedral), new manufacturing processes are invented and implemented, a new organization of work for this line of work ...

This site alone represented eighteen months of work with a team of about sixty people.

President Houphouet Boigny decorated Eric Bonte with the Officer's Medal of the Legion of Honor following the inauguration of the basilica by Pope Jean Paul II. 

In September 1999 Eric Bonte obtained the Sema Departmental Grand Prix des Métiers d'Art. In the same year, he receives the export business prize organized by the Banques Populaires.

France Vitrail International works on numerous projects, in France and abroad, in the field of decoration and interior architecture. The company offers several techniques, traditional stained glass but also engraving, sand blasting, thermoforming ... www.france-vitrail.com

The workshop has many and prestigious references: the stained glass windows of the Great Mosque of the Sultanate of Oman in Muscat, or those of the Sultan of Oman's guest lounge, the cupolas and ceiling of the Movenpick Hotel and the contemporary windows of the Conference Center of the Arab League in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, carved glass fountains of the Moscow City Hall, stained glass or carved glass of Parisian luxury hotels such as Plaza Athenee, Meurice, Raphael or Regina ...

To honor an exceptional order from a customer in Dubai, (two domes of nine meters in diameter), and the one of a Ukrainian client, (a dome, seven medallions and a huge bay seven meters high with golden frames to 24 carat gold and carved glass details), a second workshop was purchased and set up in Colombes.

A new site has recently been put online: www.ericbonte-maitreverrier.com

Eric Bonte also creates remarkable pieces, carved glass tables, screen sculptures, cupolas mixing stained glass and sandblasted glass ...

The approach remains the same, Eric Bonte weaves a tenuous link between the world of craftsmanship and the work of art; by passionately realizing the wildest dreams of his clients, he realized himself through his art; 

Since 2010, thanks to the Capazza Gallery, Eric Bonte has once again exhibited his own creations. 

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To know more

One Month - One Artist is a monthly event to make you discover the artists of the gallery.

Find the one dedicated to Eric Bonte published in April 2019, to download here 

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Exhibitions

2019 A tree, it’s time made visible – collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
La Biennale Paris – with the Galerie Capazza. Presentation of the cupola Starry Daydreams, September 2019, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Exhibition in Shanghai

2018 Miroir des Sentiments – collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France

2017 Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles – collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France

2016 Vénus et Vulcain – collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France

2015 Ensemble depuis 40 ans – collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Personal exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Antica Namur 2015 – with the Galerie Capazza, Namur, Belgium

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Achievements

Coupolas
Domes Basilica of Our Lady of Peace Yamoussoukro Ivory Coast
8,400 m2 of traditional stained-glass windows
a 40 m diameter dome

Mövenpick Pretty City Sharm el Sheikh Egypt 
2 domes of 5 m diameter
1 ceiling of 45 m x 8 m

Restaurant Rostang Paris: cupola small lounge

Brasserie Flo Strasbourg: dome and frescoes room

Biondini store Champs Elysées: VIP square dome

Many domes in private residences in Jeddah, Kuwait city, Dubai, Muscat, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tokyo, Switzerland ....

Ceilings and glass roofs
Hotel Raphael Paris: lounge-library ceiling

Hotel Regina Paris: ceilings bedrooms, cloakrooms reception rooms

Grand Café Capucines Paris: room ceilings

Richmond Hotel Opera Paris: living room ceilings

Japanese Consulate Strasbourg: ceiling

Grand Café de l'Univers Saint Quentin: room and staircase ceilings

Grand Café Convention Paris: canopies, mandorles, wall panels

Café Ménilmontant Paris: glass roof with stairs

Other traditional stained glass and engraved glass creations
Hotel Plaza Athénée, Paris

Relais Plaza, Paris

Hotel Meurice, Paris

Ladurée, rue Bonaparte Paris

Hiramatsu Brewery Tokyo, Fukuoka, Japan

Hotel Nikko, Fukuoka, Japan

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

Clock Tower, Muscat University, Sultanate of Oman

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Bibliography

Bloch Dermant, Le verre en France d’Emile Gallé à nos jours, éditions de l’Amateur, 1986, pp. 303-305

"En verre et contre tous", in Atouts 92, n°51, nov 1999 

Fakhoury Pierre, La Basilique, éditions Mardaga, 1990 

"France vitrail international, le monde à l’en verre", in 92 Express, n°147, décembre 2003 / janvier 2004 

"La Basilique de Yamoussoukro", in Architecture méditerranéenne – numéro spécial, N°33, oct 1989

"La magie du verre et de la lumière : Eric Bonte (créateur du mois)", in Parissima, avril 1998 

"L’art du verre à Rouen", in L’Affiche, N°105, aout/sept 1985, p. 26 

"Le dentellier du verre", in Le Point – spécial Courbevoie, n° 1831, 18 octobre 2007 

"Pleins feux sur le vitrail", in Le Figaro, juillet 1991

"Revolutionnyzing stained glass", in The world and I, vol. 6, n°2, février 1991, pp.222 -229 

"Stained glass quaterly", N°084, in Number 4, winter 1989, pp.281-289 

"Un sacerdoce imaginatif", in Atouts 92 - l’artisanat d’art à livre ouvert, n°18, déc 1993, p.6 

"Yamoussoukro les vitraux de la démesure", in La revue de la Céramique et du verre, n° 55, nov/déc 1990 

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