Jacques Monory

Jacques Monory is a French artist (1934 - 2018).
He studied graphic design, painting, fresco and decoration at a school of applied arts. He worked ten years for the art publisher Delpire (artistic direction). Jacques Monory is in contact with the world of photographic documents, reproductions, magazines and art books.


 
Jacques Monory was one of the main representatives of the "Narrative Figuration" movement, which in the 1960s opposed both abstract, geometric, kinetic or informal painting and the art of the New Realists. 
 
His paintings suggest heavy and threatening atmospheres. Themes are developed through series of paintings and the images he uses are directly from modern civilization. Photographic and cinematographic borrowings, the use of monochrome, the coldness of the touch and the composition characterize a singular style and commitment to representation.
His works are immediately recognizable, the subjects and dramatic atmospheres evoke American novels and films noirs, his blue nights have influenced many filmmakers.
For me he is much more than a Hyperrealist or one of the main representatives of the Narrative Figuration. He remains a unique personality, on the fringe of artistic trends and fashions.

This artist that my grandfather, Aimé Maeght, defended, dedicating three exhibitions to him at the Maeght Gallery in Paris and who is one of the pillars of the "Narrative Figuration", never had an exhibition in the USA.
It was important to me that New Yorkers discover and know this artist whose work is full of references to American literature and cinema.
And so it is done!
So I had the pleasure of working on the organization of his first exhibition in the USA, at the Richard Taittinger Gallery, in 2018. It was a pleasure and an honor for me to give his work the international exposure it deserves.


I think it was a great joy for Jacques to finally be introduced to the American public who are fed on Pop Art and who were unaware of the "Narrative Figuration" movement. The exhibition was a success among collectors, museums and the press.




Here I am, in 2008, with Alain Seban who was then president of the Centre Pompidou and Jacques Monory at the exhibition I presented at the Maeght Gallery with his paintings from the "Technicolor" series. A few months later, an exhibition "Tiger" was presented at the Maeght Foundation.



For the Football Cup of 1982, Maeght published 12 posters for the twelve Spanish cities hosting the matches. The one for the city of Vigo is signed Jacques Monory who is one of the main representatives of the Narrative Figuration movement.
Deeply concerned with the violence of everyday reality, Monory suggests heavy and threatening atmospheres. Although his work is often bathed in a blue monochrome, the artist has found warmer hues to evoke football and Spain.
I love the idea of inscribing Vigo and 82 on the shirt.
 
Jacques Monory, who has always been accompanied by dogs, strokes Giacometti's in the courtyard of the Maeght Foundation.

 
PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS

2020 Maeght Foundation, Saint-Paul de Vence
2018 Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York USA
2017 Ernst Hilger Gallery, Vienna Austria
2016 Château du Val Fleury, Gif sur Yvette
2016 Sonia Zannettacci Gallery Geneva, Switzerland
2015 Stampfli Sitgès Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
2015 Capucins de Landerneau, Fonds Michel-Edouard Leclerc
2014 L'Aspirateur, place of contemporary art, Narbonne
2013 Space Studios, London, Great Britain
2009 Maeght Foundation, Saint-Paul de Vence
2008 Maeght Gallery, Paris
 2007 Ernst Hilger Gallery, Vienna Austria
          Espace Jean Legendre Souvenir, Théâtre de Compiègne
 2006 Années 70, Maeght Gallery, Paris 
 2005 Mac/Val, Museum of Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine
          Vitrines W, Gallery Ernst Hilger, Vienna, Austria
 2004 Claudine and Jean-Marc Salomon Foundation, Alex
          Maison des Arts de Malakoff
 2003 Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany
          Space Paul Rebeyrolle, Eymoutiers
 2002 Priory Castle of Montsempron-Libos
 1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Dole
          Museum of Fine Arts of Angers, Chemellier room, Angers
          Regional School of Fine Arts and Grandes Galeries-Aître Rouen
          Palais des Congrès, Paris
          Gallery Guimpel fils, London, Great Britain
 1998 House of Contemporary Art Le Petit Chailloux, Fresnes
          Museum of Sainte-Croix, Les Sables-d'Olonne
         Museum of Fine Arts, Chartres
 1997 Municipal Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland 
 1996 Gallery du Théâtre, Cherbourg
          Villa Tamaris, La Seyne-sur-mer
 1992 Gallery Andata/Ritorno, Geneva, Switzerland
          French pavilion, universal exhibition of Sevilla, Spain
 1991 Gallery Andata/Ritorno, Geneva, Switzerland
 1990 Gallery Sonia Zannettacci, Geneva, Switzerland
          Cultural Center of Aosta, Italy 
 1989 Abbaye des Cordeliers, Châteauroux
 1988 Centre de développement culturel, Calais
         Saint-Roch Museum, Issoudun
1984 A.R.C., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
          Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
 1983 House of Culture of Grenoble
 1982 Museum of the Chartreuse, Douai
          House of Culture, Nevers
          Museum of Fine Arts, Pau
 1981 Maeght Gallery, Paris
 1980 Maeght Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
          Lunds Konsthalle, Lunds, Sweden
 1979 Maison de la Culture de Rennes
 1978 Maeght Gallery, Paris
          Maeght Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
 1977 Maeght Foundation, Saint-Paul de Vence
          Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium
          Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
 1976 Maeght Gallery, Paris
 1975 Louisiana Museum, Humlebaeck, Denmark 
          Maeght Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
 1974 C.N.A.C. Centre National d'Art contemporain, Paris
 1973 Galleria Arte Borgogna, Milan, Italy
          Cultural Centre of Villeparisis
 1972 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland 
          Museum of Saint-Etienne
          Neue Gallery, Aachen, Germany
 1971 Gallery Klang, Koln, Germany
          Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris
          Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
 1969 Galleria II Punto, Turin, Italy
         Studio d'Arte Condoti 85, Rome, Italy
          Galleria Forni, Bologna, Italy
 1968 Gallery B. Mommaton, Paris
 1967 Gallery B. Mommanton, Paris
          Galleria II Punto, Turin, Italy
 1966 Gallery Schwarz, Milan, Italy
 1965 Gallery H. Legendre, Paris
 1959 Gallery La Hune, Paris
 1958 Gallery l'entracte, Lausanne, Switzerland
 1955 Gallery Kléber, Paris