- This first critical catalog of Jean Fautrier's paintings

- Accompanies an exhibition at Christie's in Paris in February 2023

Jean Fautrier (1989-1964) was a major 20th century artist. Trained at the Royal Academy of Arts and influenced by J.M.W. Turner, he was quickly noticed by the collector Jeanne Castel in 1923. At first, his style was figurative and played on contrasts of light. He expertly harnessed the essence of reality in order to transfigure it, redefining the genres of landscape painting, still lifes and nudes (especially in his series of dark works) during the inter-war period. A few years later, his approach underwent a radical shift and became much more abstract. He launched the "Informalist" art movement, playing with pictorial materials and combining different substances to create visions of an extraordinary material quality. Close to the great intellectual figures of his time, including Jean Paulhan, Paul Éluard, Francis Ponge, René Char and André Malraux, Fautrier never ceased producing remarkably powerful and politically resonant works, as is attested by his major series Otages (1943-1945), Objets (1947-1948) and Partisans (1956). In 1960, he was awarded the first prize for painting at the Venice Biennale. Boasting an exceptionally exhaustive iconography, this first ever comprehensive annotated catalogue of Jean Fautrier's paintings includes the technique, origin, exhibitions and bibliography for each work. It is supplemented with a detailed biography, technical analyses and authoritative scientific texts, as well as transcriptions of interviews and radio broadcasts from Fautrier's time.

Author: Marie-Jose Lefort, Konstantina Minou
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Norma Editions
Published: 11/15/2023
Pages: 632
Weight: 8.9lbs
Size: 12.20h x 10.00w x 1.80d
ISBN: 9782376660729

About the Author

Marie-José Lefort: President of the Comité Jean Fautrier and a renowned expert on Fautrier for the last 40 years, Marie-José Lefort has been managing the Jeanne Castel gallery in Paris since 1964. Konstantina Minou: With a degree in Modern Literature (Lausanne University) and a European DEESS-Master's degree (Nice Sophia-Antipolis University, department of information and communication sciences), Konstantina Minou has contributed to establishing the comprehensive annotated catalogue of Jean-Fautrier's painted work under the supervision of Marie-José Lefort.