Nicolas Le Tutour, known as Niko, an artist from Pontivy in Brittany's Morbihan region, will receive the highest distinction from the prestigious Arts-Sciences-Letters Society on Saturday, October 11, 2025, at the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel in Paris. The painter, illustrator, and comic book author has been awarded the Platinum Medal diploma for his exceptional oil painting series dedicated to bees.
"I'm going to have to dress up nicely," Le Tutour confides with humor, fully aware of the honor being bestowed upon him. His series of oil paintings depicting bees has deeply impressed members of the Superior Rewards Commission of this illustrious society. "I understand this is unprecedented for a first-time submission," the artist marvels, touched by this unexpected recognition. "Whatever the case, this prize touches me deeply. I hope it will herald a takeoff for my bees."
The Arts-Sciences-Letters Society (ASL) is a French learned society founded in 1915 by René Flament, a lawyer and member of the Society of Men of Letters. This society, described as one of "encouragement and education," aims to recognize and promote women and men who, through their talent and work, contribute to the cultural influence in artistic, literary, and scientific fields. Each year, Arts-Sciences-Letters hosts a grand celebration at a prestigious Parisian establishment, during which recipients receive diplomas for Platinum, Gold, Silver-Gilt, Silver, Pewter, and Bronze medals.
This year's ceremony will be particularly special as ASL celebrates its 110th anniversary. When Le Tutour arrived in Pontivy in 2003, he began as a painter. However, it was primarily through editorial cartooning for Le Télégramme and Le Peuple breton newspapers, and comic book illustration that he built his reputation. His "Cronoccums" series has delighted readers of Pif le Mag magazine.
Due to circumstances, Niko had distanced himself from the easel, canvases, brushes, tubes, and turpentine. That changed in 2020, following "a break in my life," when he returned to oil painting. That year marked the reauthorization of neonicotinoids—bee-killing pesticides—in France. For Niko, who harbors a genuine passion for entomology in general and bees in particular, this decision was a real shock and source of incomprehension.
The artist then immersed himself in numerous scientific, philosophical, literary, and musical works by authors including the Tavoillot brothers, Virgil, Origen, Jean Paulhan, Emily Dickinson, and Franz Schubert. "Sensitive to environmental issues and the extinction of fauna worldwide at an unprecedented rate, the project began to take shape in my mind," Le Tutour explains.
Niko began painting pollinators, viewing bees as symbols of wisdom, collective work, and cosmic harmony. Naturally, his oil-on-canvas collection is titled "Apis." The series becomes much more than paintings—it's a pictorial manifesto in favor of pollinators, sentinels of our biodiversity. "Through this collection, I tell, in symbolic fashion, how connected they are to humans since prehistoric times and how they have inspired our societies, civilizations, poets, thinkers, and musicians. I also want to raise awareness about their great distress and the threat of extinction hanging over them," Le Tutour states.
Each of Niko's canvases tells a story within the story—a narrative universe that is resolutely figurative with a realistic style, in a symbolic approach and perspective. Through Apis, Niko doesn't just show winged insects; he extends a key, an invitation to reopen our eyes to the world's order, to rediscover the sense of the sacred in living things, and perhaps, in turn, to work for the Light.
In 2021, Niko was the guest of honor at the first Ar Anima exhibition in Le Pouliguen, an event dedicated to animal welfare. His painting "Nesout Bity" was acquired by Alain Bougrain-Dubourg, and the Pontivy artist returned home with the Ar Anima-LPO France Prize. The story didn't end there. A neighboring exhibitor spoke enthusiastically about him to one of her acquaintances, who immediately advised Niko to register with the Arts-Sciences-Letters society, which he did.
Months passed without any news. It wasn't until early September 2025 that Niko contacted ASL again, just in case. To his surprise, he learned that he was the winner of this venerable institution's most prestigious prize. This distinction won't be the only spotlight on his work at year's end. In December, Niko will exhibit his paintings in Paris, near the Picasso Museum—a new milestone in an artistic journey that blends poetry, ecological commitment, and aesthetic excellence.
"I hope all this will move things in the right direction for bees," wishes the artist who has adopted the motto of the Museum of Plants: "Wonder to learn, wonder to act."
