Simon-Albert Bussy, 1869-1954

Simon Bussy (1870-1954) was born in Jura, France and moved to Paris in 1886 after winning a scholarship to study at the École des Arts Décoratifs. He later trained under Élie Delauny and Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux Arts where he became great friends with Matisse and Rouault. Through his marriage to Dorothy Strachey, the sister of Lytton Strachey in 1903, he was introduced to the Bloomsbury circle. He became a close family friend of Duncan Grant, a cousin of the Stracheys, and encouraged him to take up painting where his influence can be seen in Grant’s early style. During summers spent in England and Scotland he made many portraits of the Bloomsbury members, and in 1915 he became involved with the Omega workshops, producing decorative woodcuts and designs.

His oeuvre consists of portraits, landscapes and animals, predominantly in pastel. The following works typify his later style as he turned resolutely towards small, bold, patterned studies of birds, animals and plants with a great emphasis on colour, often making sketches for these in London Zoo.