| has gloss | eng: Gerard Coste is a painter and diplomat born on March 24, 1939 in Marseille. A graduate of the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, HEC Paris and the École nationale dadministration (National School of Administration), he began his diplomatic career in Laos in 1964,<ref name="lat-31mar1991"/> later serving in Japan. While in Japan, he spent two years studying painting with the master Toshimitsu Imai,<ref name="jf-2005"/> being Imais only Western student.<ref name="lat-31mar1991"/> Coste had his first one-man exhibition in 1975 in Japan.<ref name="lat-31mar1991"/> He has had several shows in France and Japan and exhibiting his works regularly in Japan, the United States, Singapore and Thailand. He pursued both careers, diplomatic and artistic together, until his retirement in 2003, the date on which he set up his painting studio in Bangkok. |