Carole Pinto Fine Arts

Bellet closely identifies with the 1905 Fauve movement, that was pioneered in France by Henri Matisse, Andre Derain, Georges Braque and Maurice de Vlaminck.  These trailblazing artists chose to break away from academic painting and apply a brilliantly hued palette of colors directly onto the canvas.  Bellet also drew inspiration from the iconic French painter, Nicolas de Stael, applying thick layers of pigment onto the canvas with an impasto knife, thereby creating a highly textured pictorial surface that is vibrant and emotionally fraught. 

Bellet's depiction of boats on the water moves towards abstraction.  One can make out their indigo forms silhouetted against the radiant sunlight peering through a darkened sky.  The whiteness of the water's surface adds transparency and luminosity to the composition, underlying the ethereal and meditative qualities that often appear in his oeuvre.

Despite being self-taught, Bellet acheived a level of recognition throughout the world, with exhibitions held all over France, as well as in Japan, Switzerland, Africa and the U.S.  He has worked on numerous book and magazine illustrations, including the renown 'Art Notebooks:

A Look Beyond Printmaking'.