Early years
by René Anchierri
1905-1920
René Anchierri was born on 12 February 1905 in Annecy, Michel Anchierri-Piazza (1877-1962) and Marie Duchene (1878-1953), whose father was a teacher and mayor of the commune of Cran-Gevrier (Haute-Savoie).
The family, originally from ViladOssola in the present Italian Piedmont, lives mainly at this time, from the work of the land.
In the early 19th century, Giuseppe Anchierri came to work at Ferrières, a village near Annecy, to produce coal. His offspring joined him a few years later.
The surname Piazza, which was joined to Anchierri, purely Italian, was swallowed by Michel, René's father.
The full name of Anchierri-Piazza is found in the civil state, as well as in the army, teaching and any other administration, while professional, family or correspondence documents only include the first, which has complicated our research.
Her parents were both teachers, a rather rare situation at the time, and they would respectively become director and director of primary and nursery school groups.Jules Philippe School Annecy.
René and his younger brother Lucien, born in 1911, will receive a very comprehensive classical education and an awakening to artistic practices that they will later express each in different ways.
René se dirigera vers un métier artistique, et Lucien vers une carrière d’ingénieur des Eaux et Forêts.
The young René obtained his certificate of study in June 1917 at the age of 12, with a mention for drawing. He also developed an early passion for nature observation, study and plant collection, herbalism, following his father's steps in the Savoy mountains.
He regularly sends ballets containing plants (valerian roots, colchic bulbs,...) to a wholesaler of herbs and drugs in Lyon "De Poumeyrol et Travi", which allows him to receive regular small fees. (see Here an invoice for herbalism)
In 1918, he joined the Ecole Préparatoire Supérieure aux Arts et Métiers, at the Lycée Claude-Louis Berthollet Annecy. This is where a meeting will permanently change the course of his life.
