Biography from Jim's Of Lambertville:
|  At the time of his death in 1986, hardly anyone remembered reclusive Kintnersville (Bucks County) Impressionist/Expressionist, Fernand Gaston Longchamp. Born to a French mother and an artistic Cayuga-Iroquois Indian father, he grew up in Paris. Disturbed by the U.S. Army's 1890 massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, his father had moved to France. There he set up an art studio and a business as a decorator. He was friendly with artists, Seurat, Bannard, Renoir and Signac.
By 1904, Gaston was apprentice to his father, working in churches and painting stage sets in theaters. He became familiar with his father's circle of friends, running errands and helping them out. As a young boy, he cleaned Renoir's brushes and watched him paint. By the time he was fourteen, he was working with painters in Montmartre, who shared insights and critiques with him. Thus, he benefited from acquaintanceships with Raoul Dufy, Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani and Henri Matisse. He worked with Pablo Picasso to paint stage designs for the Russian Ballet in 1911, and with Marc Chagall to paint scenes for Stravinsky's Firebird. He also studied for a short time at the Academie des Beaux Arts.
In the 1920’s, Longchamp came to America, working as a set designer for theaters, ballets and the Metropolitan Opera, and eventually becoming one of the foremost set designers in the United States.
His wife purchased an old farmhouse near Kintnersville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he set up a studio. At the same time, he also opened restaurant Canard Bleu on 51st Street in New York, which he operated for three years to favorable reviews. He continued to paint prolifically and retired permanently to his Kintnersville home in the 1970’s.
At his death, more than 200 paintings were in his Kintnersville studio; few have since surfaced. Longchamp's paintings show the deep influence of his acquaintances Renoir, Dufy and Picasso.
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