I was surfing on the web to search documents, and I found the Coco Fronsac's website and I immediatly liked her teddy bears paintings.

I wrote to her and with her agreement I interviewed her and I want to thank her for that.
 

Can you in a few lines make a resume of your career ?

I was brought up in an artist family. My grand father, Lucien Neuquelman was a painter; my grand mother, Camille Lesné, too.
My parents met at the Art school. Then what I was going to do as a career was clear.


I read that you also studied in the Art school of Paris before beginning as a painter, a sculptor, a drawer...How did the idea to paint teddy bears come to you ?

© Coco Fronsac
 

I always have a passion for old toys. My grand mother had a very beautiful colection of porcelain dolls. And I soon began to spend much time in flea markets. I bought toys, teddy bears "in bits".

At the beginning, a friend of me asked me to paint her teddy bear and she enjoyed the result.


Why did you put your teddy bears in front of press articles ?
 

© Coco Fronsac

 

Rightly, it's actually my passion for old newspapers, old ads, the graphic impact they represent, which gave me the idea to combine painting and collage.

It's just as if the bear was the witness of a new item or a "stolen" moment. A wink at the great DADA artists I love so much.


What are yout technics of painting for these kinds of teddy bears ?
 

© Coco Fronsac
 

These paintings are oil paintings with the technics of old "glacis".

I've always admired Dutch painters but also the great classical artists such as Archimboldo (the exhibition of whom I saw) who has an exceptional mastery.


Have you ever wanted to paint the real bears, which were the teddy bears models ?

I would must say that I never have this idea. I am more a lounge painter than an animal painter,although a bear is beautiful !!


Have you ever illustrated books for children, or documentaries about bears ? If not do you think about it ?

No, but I thought about that. I need offer.


Anybody interested ? What are your other hobbies ?

Well, well . This is a trick !! I have so many hobbies. I hunt for bargins, I ferret and I accumulate a lot !! I am curious of everything and above all I am manual. I always create. Not only bears or dolls paintings, but also very different things : collages, reliquaries, ex-votos, masks...put in bottles...The list is long but we are artists, aren't we ?
 

© Coco Fronsac
 

Do you have something to add to this interview ?

I thank you for you idea to make this website.

It's good to attract people from different places. We have a lot of things to discover. A world which is rich and poetic.

We have the possibility to discover that our planet is fragile, and that its population is too.

Roosevelt was right not to kill the bearcub !! This is mythical, who has never made , or will never make hugs to one's teddy bear !!