Christopher C French (born 1957) is an American painter and art critic. His work has been exhibited nationally, and is included in collections of the Goethe-Institut, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, McNeese State University, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Phillips Collection, as well as the corporate collections of Hewlett-Packard, Progressive, and Sallie Mae, Inc.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1957, French grew up in Sacramento, receiving his BA from the University of California, Davis, where he studied with Robert Arneson and Wayne Thiebaud.
After graduation, French focused on performance, joining the Royal Lichtenstein Quarter Ring Sidewalk Circus for a yearlong, 41 state, 200-performance tour. Resettling in Oakland in 1981, he returned to painting, working in a representational style inspired by the work of Philip Guston, and joined the staff at Art Week magazine, founded and edited by Cecile McCann, where he contributed critical reviews, essays, and opinion pieces. His approach to painting changed after moving to New York in 1986 when he found a book of Braille paper on the street, which he incorporated into his work. https://www.romanovgrave.com/studio-visits/christopher-french. He moved to Washington, DC in 1998. His first exhibition in Washington was presented in 1992, Constellations & Fables at Marsha Mateyka Gallery in Washington, DC, accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by David Pagel. He continued to exhibit regularly at Mateyka Gallery through 2011. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/426731/reviewed-christopher-french-at-marsha-mateyka-gallery/ . In 1994, French joined the board of the Washington Project for the Arts and stepped in as Interim Director until 1996 .. He later moved to Houston, Texas, (2000âÂÂ2008) where he exhibited at Devin Borden Gallery https://www.houstonpress.com/arts/capsule-art-reviews-anodyne-between-heaven-and-home-ctrl-group-two-elixir-pressing-news-prints-6593679/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAnodyne%E2%80%9D%20It's%20difficult%20to%20label,work%20by%20any%20traditional%20means.&text=%E2%80%9CBetween%20Heaven%20and%20Home%E2%80%9D%20For,pieces%20out%20of%20Braille%20paper. and to Southampton, New York (2008âÂÂ2025), exhibiting at the Mark Humphrey Gallery https://www.27east.com/arts-living/article_87e65d14-87ca-54d5-aea9-ab1ad9889024.html#:~:text=1%20of%203,13%20in%20the%20Side%20Gallery. the Drawing Room and the Islip Art Museum. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/28/nyregion/art-reviews-when-words-become-a-means-of-reaching-a-different-plane.html
In addition to his work as contributing editor for Art Week (1982âÂÂ1987) French has published as an essayist and critic in numerous art magazines, and has contributed essays to several museum publications. Catalogue essays include Robin Rose: Painting as Prototype (M-13 Gallery, 1995); Louise Bourgeois: The Locus of Memory (Brooklyn Museum) and Harry Abrams, Inc., 1994); The Human Factor (Albuquerque Museum, 1993)https://test.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/hb990036122140203941; Beyond the Frame (Institute for Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1991) and 20 Years, Martha Jackson-Jarvis: Structuring Energy, (Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, 1996).https://driskellcenter.pastperfectonline.com/library/A2F9CD96-93E7-4ADF-877D-822417633701 From 2000 to 2001 he edited the reviews section of Art Lies, The Journal of Art (1988âÂÂ1991), and Artnet.com (1999âÂÂ2000). He has contributed art reviews, interviews, and news reports to ARTnews, Flash Art, and the online magazine Glasstire.https://glasstire.com/author/christopher-french/ He was the editor of the book Facing History: The Black Image in American Art 1710-1940 published in 1990, and a contributing essayist for Radical Seafaring (2016) and Telling Stories: Reframing the Narrative (2021) both published by the Parrish Art Museum. He served as President of the United States chapter of the Association of International Art Critics (AICA)https://www.aicausa.org/ from 2012 to 2014.https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/aica-usa-arts-award-win
Selected Bibliography
Selected articles and books by Christopher French
Christopher French married Terrie Sultan in 1988. They currently live in Santa Rosa, CA.