Kizou DumasIn 1966, Kizou entered the Ecole Régionale des Beaux Arts in Saint-Etienne, with a mechanic’s CAP in his pocket…
Before 1968, the Beaux Arts was a classic school, teaching academic drawing. Kizou remembers spending hours and hours drawing with charcoal.
In an atmosphere of creation, imagination, freedom and a society on the move, Kizou invented stories and illustrated them with his brother, who made videos.
The only thing I knew how to do was DRAW!
Portrait Kizou DumasA love affair brought him to Tence, where he had settled in the 80s. He set up his workshop first in Saint-Jeures, with the presses in the garage, and met other artists in the Haut-Lignon region, already a dozen or so at the time.
At the time, he was mainly involved in engraving and sold his first prints as a professional.
In the ’80s, he collaborated with Thierry FOURNIER on a comic strip project presented and selected by Guy VIDAL, then editor-in-chief of PILOTE magazine and publisher with DARGAUD.
Mr. VIDAL suggested that Kizou DUMAS work with cartoonist J.C. MEZIERE. MEZIERE, a major comic-book artist.
In the end, the project did not go ahead.
From 1982 onwards, he made a living from his art.
In 2000, Kizou created his first themed exhibition for the famous Michelin-starred chef Régis Marcon, a series ofengravings around mushrooms, one for each of the hotel’s rooms.
This was followed by themed series that told a story, including the “Tendance et tentations” exhibition in St Priest-en-Jarez.
He is guest of honor at the Salon International Artistique du Puy-en-Velay, where nearly 200 artists from all regions of France and various countries exhibit. He was then invited to Saint-Flour, where he exhibited at a furious pace.
Current affairs play a central role in Kizou Dumas’s painting, and he never imposes a vision, but rather prompts reflection. He tackles serious subjects in filigree.
And to breathe, Kizou alternates with more bucolic themes, such as his series of landscapes of the Haut-Lignon region, where the forest, nature, rivers and trees are magnificently represented. Not to mention fishing!
It’s like moving from one universe to another.
To get away from this gravity, I draw rivers.
Kizou Dumas : Boite Noire
Kizou Dumas: exclusion and marginalization
Le Radeau: painting from the Différence/Indifférence series 2018
Kizou Dumas: Trend & TENTATIONS exhibition
Kizou Dumas: Temptation
Kizou Dumas : C'est Vous Qui Voyez
Conquistadores: from the C'est vous qui voyez 2016 seriesAt first, I hated it!
At the request of Editeurs Stéphanois, I wrote a text entitled “Pourquoi Saint-Etienne” (Why Saint-Etienne), with the drawings and a little text.
I said to myself: I’m going to dare, since they’re asking me to!
In 2020, I wrote “Eléphants roses”, 5 very personal tales. Then “Dystopie”, “Encrages et dérives” volumes 1 and 2, “Travel story” “L’accroche mouche” and “Pensées sauvages”, the first book (written and illustrated) 100% Kizou Dumas.
He has collaborated extensively with Marc Désage, George Sauzet and Henry Cucurny, his lifelong accomplices. Illustrated novels, photo albums such as “Bal clandestin”. And his illustrated novel “L’ordre des choses”!
Kizou starts from the book and illustrates it, or conversely, he starts from the drawing and writes the story.
This morning, a new thought was born. I’ve just finished drawing it. It’s called: THE YEAR 2000
In the 1950s, we imagined that we’d be living in the year 2000, like in science fiction novels.
In the year 2000, there are no cars on the road since they’ve gone into space, and when the vacations come around, the whole family heads for the moon or Mars.
Here we are in 2024, we’re still on the road in gasoline-powered cars, and we’re still vacationing in La Grande Motte. The only thing that’s changed is that the air we breathe is becoming more disgusting by the day. K. Dumas
Kizou Dumas: L'ordre Des Choses
The Elephants
Wild thoughts 1
Wild thoughts 2“Encrages & Dérives” Vol.1 by Henri CUCURNY – 2009 – (self-published)
“L’accroche Mouche” by Marc DESAGE – 2009 – (self-published)
“Encrages & Dérives” Vol.2 by Henri CUCURNY – 2012 – (self-published)
“Travelling Story” by Georges SAUZET – 2014 – (Aubin Édition)
“Bal Clandestin” by Georges SAUZET – 2015 – (Actes Graphiques)
“Very Short Stories” by Benjamin AUGUSTE – 2016 – (Editonly)
“Ergo Non Sum” by Benjamin AUGUSTE – 2017 – (Editonly)
“Why Saint Étienne?” collective work – 2019 – (Editonly)
“Pensées Sauvages” – 2020 – (Actes Graphiques)
“Les Éléphants Roses” – 2021 – (Actes Graphiques)
“L’Ordre des Choses” with Marc DESAGE – 2023 – (self-publishing)
Lunar landscapes, castles in the background, portraits or self-portraits, the paintings of Christian Dumas, aka Kizou, are a journey between the real and the imaginary, in time and space. From the fantastic, marked by the past, to the dark and the lighter, let yourself be invaded by Kizou’s universe!
Thanks to him and his courses, we all have aunts, nephews, friends and others in the region who take up the brush with pleasure and pride.
His patience, sympathy and application during these courses have enabled many to become passionate amateur painters and reveal the creative side they possessed. And there are many…
Bateau Ivre Collection 
Kizou Dumas
Lignon A CosterousseFrom 1989 to 2008, engraving was the art of Kizou Dumas. It took some time before daring to use color.
Our painter is multi-talented: pastel, litho (stone work), and later oils and digital prints.
– It all started with drawing, so it came naturally, along with books. K.Dumas.
– When we first met, Kizou was only doing litho, inspired by Surrealism (1970s). Georges Sauzet, a friendship spanning over 50 years.
Vacuite Gravure
Les Pianistes Print
Scandal print
The Painter And The FishermanKizou’s paintings are inseparable from fishing. A story that goes back to the dawn of time.
What fascinates Kizou is being at one with the mysterious world of the river! And when observation and contemplation combine, Kizou the painter inevitably takes over.
With the tip of his pencil and the point of his brush, transforming this natural setting is child’s play for him.
Find out about upcoming exhibitions in the Haute-Loire, Loire and Rhône regions.
Galerie l’estampe
16 Grande rue
43190 Tence
06 30 29 81 73
In Tence, above the Tourist Office, Galerie l’Estampe is open all year round, Tuesdays and Sundays from 9am to 12:30pm and Saturdays from 9am to 12:30pm and from 3pm to 7pm.
Kizou Dumas has also become a well-known and recognized painter in the RHONE ALPES region.
In Saint-Étienne, his birthplace, he was chosen as one of 42 local artists to appear in the book POURQUOI SAINT-ETIENNE, alongside such celebrities as Bernard LAVILLIERS, Pierre GAGNAIRE and Patrick REVELLI.
From March 28 to April 11, 2025 in the town hall of Le Puy-en-Velay , on the theme of HAUTE LOIRE landscapes.
In August 2025, a painting exhibition at the Centre Pierre Cardinal.
Kizou Dumas : C'est Vous Qui VoyezFor the first time, the BOLERO series will be presented from May 5 to 30, 2025 in the prestigious Jean Claude SIMON gallery at the Hôtel Départemental in Le Puy-en-Velay.
Collection No more war : La Treve
No more war collection: the news
No more war collection : Vigie
Amarcord Director F.fellini 
Le Voleur De Bicyclette Director V.de Sica 1 
The Grapes Of Wrath Director J.ford At the Rêves d’ailleurs gallery in Saint Étienne, an exhibition on the theme of the BATEAU IVRE, a series of 12 paintings in which the painter’s imagination and that of the poet Arthur RIMBAUD intertwine.
The directors of this major gallery in Saint Étienne told us that this was their finest exhibition of 2024.
Kizou Dumas: Expo Tango
Collection Boléro : Oboe 
Collection Boléro : Orchestra Kizou’s work on 1914-1918, through the No more war collection, has interested the Musée de la grande guerre.
A project will undoubtedly see the light of day in 2025.
Le Haut-Lignon is a land of craftsmen and women. Talented, young, men and women, all very attached to their region!
We invite you to visit our workshops, where you’ll discover a wealth of skills and creations, where hands and materials, tools and the world of shapes come together… We invite you to push open the doors of our artisans.
