Jean-Éric Ougier was one of the most famous pyrotechnicians in Europe
July 14 in Paris, Chantilly Fire Nights, Versailles Night Festivals, Annecy Lake Festivals, the inauguration of the Louvre Lens, shows in Chambord, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Cannes, Saint- Tropez, Royan, the opening shows of the 2013 Military World Games, the 50th anniversary of a laboratory at the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon, the Festival of Lights in the same city, the Gatsby the Magnificent evening in Cannes, the inauguration of the A46 motorway, the anniversary day of the Monteynard dam, the Pyroconcerts in Talloires, Aix-les-Bains and Paris, the Reopening of the Mont-Blanc tunnel… it would be illusory to want to mention all the artistic nuggets that the artificer Jean -Éric Ougier has been shaped in more than 40 years of career. The artist from Annecy has just bowed out this Thursday, July 21, following a long illness, at 64 years old. The news was reflected as a dark trail of powder on the canvas. His daughter, Julie de Lestrange, paid him a beautiful tribute on social networks that messages of compassion came to complete this Sunday, July 24 in the morning. Married to Odile, he was the father of four children.
The founder and artistic director of “Fêtes et Feux” settled in Menthon-Saint-Bernard, on the shores of Lake Annecy in 2000, after having lived in Paris where he had created his company in the 1980s. And since then he has been criss-crossing the planet to shatter the skies.
Shares of dreams that only the dawn gives birth to
Born on October 9, 1957, Jean-Éric Ougier often spoke of his young age since, he said, it was during this period that his passion for parties took shape. For him, the key word of existence was childhood. And this is precisely what he was trying to inoculate the public: parts of dreams that only dawn gives birth to. He wanted to give people a multicolored, dreamlike view of reality. Halfway between the magician and the playwright, he composed new fires, as much not in their forms as in their intentions. The love of the Lake Festival came to him when, at the age of 3, he and his parents attended the show for the very first time. “This is what I want to do,” he had hammered at them. The pyrotechnician had signed six, the last of which was in 2013. His friend, Étienne Perruchon, had composed the music for one of them. He loved to showcase Lake Annecy, which he loved. Concocting the Grand feu de Saint-Cloud, in 2019, the largest in Europe, had also delighted him.
Knitter of ephemeral sparks, his smile should remain in the eyes of the spectators for a long time. “If we are on this earth, it is to participate in the momentum of creation that has existed since the dawn of time. You have to trust providence,” he said in 2017 to students from a Grande Ecole during a conference.
It’s hard not to blame Providence on this day left without light by his departure.
A final tribute will be paid to him on Tuesday July 26 at 11:30 a.m. in the Menthon-Saint-Bernard cemetery. His family let it be known that black is banished.