Jean Fautrier | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1898-05-16)May 16, 1898 Paris, France |
| Died | July 21, 1964(1964-07-21) (aged 66) Châtenay-Malabry, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Education | Royal Academy of Art Slade School |
| Known for | Painting,sculpture |
| Movement | Art Informel (Tachisme) |
Jean Fautrier (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃fotʁije]; May 16, 1898 – July 21, 1964) was a French painter, illustrator, printmaker, and sculptor. He was one of the most important practitioners ofTachisme.
Jean Fautrier was born in Paris in 1898. He was given his unwed mother's surname, and raised by his grandmother until she and his father both died in 1908. He then moved to London to be with his mother.[1] There, in 1912, he began to study at theRoyal Academy of Arts. Unsatisfied by instruction he thought too rigid, he left to study briefly at theSlade School, which was reputed to be moreavant-garde. He was disappointed again and decided to teach himself, devoting himself to painting.[1] The works he saw in theTate Gallery made a far greater impression on him; he especially admired the paintings ofJ. M. W. Turner.[1] He was called up for the French Army in 1917, but was discharged in 1921 due to his poor health.
He first exhibited his paintings at theSalon d'Automne in 1922 and at the Fabre Gallery in 1923. It was at the Galerie Fabre that he met art dealer Jeanne Castel, his first collector and friend. In 1923 he began producing etchings and engravings. His first solo exhibition was at the Galerie Visconti in Paris, in 1924.[1]
In 1927, he painted a series of pictures (still lifes, nudes, landscapes) in which black dominates. In 1928 he metAndré Malraux through Castel. Malraux asked Fautrier to illustrate a text of his choice, but copyright issues kept him from using his first choice,Arthur Rimbaud'sLes Illuminations, and he settled instead withDante'sInferno. He produced 34lithographs, but the publication, proposed byGallimard, was deemed impossible and the project was abandoned in 1930. Until 1933 he divided his efforts between sculpture and painting. Short on funds, he spent the years 1934–1936 living in the resort ofTignes, where he made his living as a ski instructor and started a jazz club.[1]
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In 1939, just asWorld War II was beginning, Fautrier left the mountains, moving to Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, and Bordeaux before finally returning to Paris in 1940 and starting to paint once again. In Paris he met several poets and writers for whom he created illustrations. In January 1943, he was arrested by the GermanGestapo. After brief imprisonment, he fled Paris and found refuge inChâtenay-Malabry, where he began work on the project of theOtages (or "Hostages").[1] These paintings were a response to the torture and execution of French citizens by theNazis outside his residence, and were exhibited in 1945 with the Drouin gallery. In the years that followed, Fautrier worked on the illustrations of several works, among themL'Alleluiah byGeorges Bataille, and made a series of paintings devoted to small familiar objects.
His late work is abstract, generally small in scale, often combining mixed media on paper. In 1960 he won the international grand prize at theVenice Biennale as well as another major award at the Tokyo Biennale the following year. He died inChâtenay-Malabry in 1964, the same year in which he had made donations to theMusée de l’Ile-de-France in Sceaux andMusée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. A retrospective of his work opened there later that year.[1] and was organized by theGianadda Foundation atMartigny in January–March 2005.
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