.Narrative Figuration - Jacques Monory

Jacques Monory is a French artist (1934 - 2018).

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 Galerie Maeght with his "Technicolor" series paintings. A few months later, a "Tiger" exhibition was presented at the Fondation Maeght.

Trained as a graphic artist-painter-frescoist-decorator at a school of Applied Arts. Ten years working at the art publisher Delpire (artistic direction). Jacques Monory was 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. The themes are developed through series of canvases, and the images he uses come directly from modern civilization. Photographic and cinematographic borrowings, the use of monochrome, the coldness of touch and composition characterize a unique and engaged style in representation.

His works are immediately recognizable; the dramatic subjects and atmospheres evoke American noir novels and films, and his blue nights have influenced many filmmakers.

For me, he is much more than a Hyperrealist or one of the main representatives of Narrative Figuration; he remains a unique personality, outside of artistic trends and fashions.

This artist, whom my grandfather, Aimé Maeght, championed, dedicating three exhibitions to him at the Galerie Maeght in Paris, and who is one of the pillars of "Narrative Figuration," had never had an exhibition in the USA.

It was important to me that New Yorkers discover and learn about this artist whose work is imbued with references to American literature and cinema.

And it's done!

I therefore had the pleasure of working to organize 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 visibility it deserves.

I believe it was an immense joy for Jacques to finally be introduced to the American public, who are accustomed to Pop Art and unaware of the "Narrative Figuration" movement. The exhibition was a success, with collectors, museums, and the press alike.

For the 1982 Football World Cup, Maeght published 12 posters for the twelve Spanish cities hosting the matches. The one for the city of Vigo is signed by Jacques Monory, who is one of the main representatives of the Narrative Figuration movement.

Deeply concerned by the violence of everyday reality, Monory suggests heavy and menacing atmospheres. While his work often bathes in a blue monochrome, the artist found warmer hues to evoke football and Spain.

I love the idea of putting Vigo and 82 on the jersey.

Jacques Monory, always accompanied by dogs, strokes Giacometti's dog in the courtyard of the Fondation Maeght.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020 Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence
2018 Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York USA
2017 Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna Austria
2016 Château du Val Fleury, Gif sur Yvette
2016 Galerie Sonia Zannettacci Geneva, Switzerland
2015 Fondation Stampfli Sitgès, Barcelona, Spain
2015 Capucins de Landerneau, Michel-Edouard Leclerc Collection
2014 L'Aspirateur, Contemporary Art Venue, Narbonne
2013 Space Studios, London, Great Britain
2009 Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence
2008 Galerie Maeght, Paris
2007 Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna Austria
         Espace Jean Legendre Souvenir, Théâtre de Compiègne
2006 Années 70, Galerie Maeght, Paris
2005 Mac/Val, Musée du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine
         Vitrines W, Gallery Ernst Hilger, Vienna, Austria
2004 Fondation Claudine and Jean-Marc Salomon, Alex
         Maison des Arts de Malakoff
2003 Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany
         Espace Paul Rebeyrolle, Eymoutiers
2002 Château prieural de Montsempron-Libos
1999 Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dole
         Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, Salle Chemellier, Angers
         Ecole Régionale des Beaux-Arts et Grandes Galeries-Aître Rouen
         Palais des Congrès, Paris
         Gallery Gimpel fils, London, Great Britain
1998 Maison d'Art Contemporain Le Petit Chailloux, Fresnes
         Musée de Sainte-Croix, Les Sables-d'Olonne
         Musée des Beaux-Arts de 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 Seville, Spain
1991 Gallery Andata/Ritorno, Geneva, Switzerland
1990 Gallery Sonia Zannettacci, Geneva, Switzerland
         Centre culturel d'Aoste, Italy
1989 Abbaye des Cordeliers, Châteauroux
1988 Centre de développement culturel, Calais
         Musée Saint-Roch, Issoudun
1984 A.R.C., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
         Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1983 Maison de la Culture de Grenoble
1982 Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai
         Maison de la Culture, Nevers
         Musée des Beaux-Arts, Pau
1981 Galerie Maeght, Paris
1980 Galerie Maeght, Barcelona, Spain
         Lunds Konsthalle, Lunds, Sweden
1979 Maison de la Culture de Rennes
1978 Galerie Maeght, Paris
         Galerie Maeght, Zurich, Switzerland
1977 Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence
         Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium
         Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
1976 Galerie Maeght, Paris
1975 Louisiana Museum, Humlebaeck, Denmark
         Galerie Maeght, 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
         Musée de Saint-Etienne
         Neue Gallery, Aachen, Germany
1971 Gallery Klang, Cologne, Germany
         Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
         Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
1969 Galleria Il 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 Il 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

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