Jacques Grinberg (Yaacov Grinberg (10 January 1941 – 5 May 2011) was a

Neo-expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early-postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'New ...

painter and printmaker.

Biography

;1941-1960 Jacques Grinberg was born in 1941, in Bulgaria, and lived in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

during the war years. His father, Natan Grinberg, a member of the Communist Party in his youth, held a high position in the leadership of Communist Bulgaria after the war. In 1954, the family moved to Israel and settled in Bat Yam. On his arrival, Jacques went to school in a kibbutz, and at a young age began studying art at the Avni School in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. He probably was not exposed directly to the horrors of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, but the subject was not repressed, certainly not by his father, who already in 1945 had published a book of documents attesting to the attempts of the Bulgarian fascist government to eliminate Bulgarian Jewry and to the involvement of the army and the police in the expulsion and extermination of the Jews of

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

and Macedonia. After the book disappeared from the bookshops in Bulgaria, he published it again in Israel (in Bulgarian). ;1961-1970 In 1961, Natan Grinberg published another book in Israel, with a painting by his son on its cover. Jacques’s communistic world view and his acute sensitivity to the events of the time and to man’s fate were an inseparable part of the habitus he grew up in, and are embedded in his work. After showing his works in several exhibitions in Tel Aviv galleries, Jacques moved to Paris in 1962, and in a short time found his place among the first artists who promoted the “New Figuration” orientation, which proposed a contemporary painting that struck out against the abstract, which had taken over everywhere. Grinberg’s paintings – large in format, bold in their colors – focused on human and animal images, and were highly successful. He was represented by a leading gallery and his paintings were shown in well-regarded exhibitions. But the failure of the Students’ Revolt in 1968 and the collapse of the gallery that represented him (and sold his paintings at a loss, which broke the market for his works) created a new reality for him, and he found it difficult to recover. ;1971-1983 Following the closure of the Galerie Schoeller Jacques Grinberg experienced significant financial difficulty and went to live in Israel for a year. His friend, the Israeli poet Meir Wieseltier, chose several of his drawings and lithographs for the covers of his poetic books and for the first issue of Proza 21, an Israeli literary magazine. On his return to Paris he rented a studio in

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the north ...

. His scope of inspiration widened and he began to include new influences such as the Kabbalah and Tao. His wide-ranging pictorial research became increasingly exploratory. In 1972, the Galerie de France published, in partnership with the Atelier Clot, and showed

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

by Jacques Grinberg as well as

Pierre Alechinsky Pierre Alechinsky (born 19 October 1927) is a Belgian artist. He has lived and worked in France since 1951. His work is related to tachisme, abstract expressionism, and lyrical abstraction. Life Alechinsky was born in Schaerbeek. In 1944 he att ...

Erró Erró (born Guðmundur Guðmundsson in 1932 in Ólafsvík, Iceland) is a visual artist and painter, who is best known for his painted pop art collages of images from comic books and advertisements.

Asger Jorn Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest c ...

Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. Bio ...

Roland Topor Roland Topor (7 January 1938 – 16 April 1997) was a French illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, painter, novelist, playwright, film and TV writer, filmmaker and actor, who was known for the surreal nature of his work. He was of Polish-Jewis ...

and

Maurice Wyckaert Maurice Wyckaert (1923–1996) was a Belgian artist born in Brussels. He is a neo-expressionistic, lyrical abstract painter, gouache designer and printmaker. He was educated at the Academy of Brussels (1940–47 and 1949–50) and in Saint-Jos ...

. The following year he worked again with Jo Verbrugghen, the Belgian dealer, on a solo exhibition, which was held at the Sint Pietersabdij Museum in Ghent. In 1974, he returned to the

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

neighbourhood, where he had studios in the rue des Plantes and then in rue Campagne Première. At that time Jacques Grinberg's life was particularly hectic and he briefly struggled with psychiatric issues. Supported by his family, he continued to paint. He travelled in Mexico and Greece and brought back numerous ideas and works made in those countries. He also lived and worked for a while in London. ;1984-1994 A fresh start in Israel brought about three solo exhibitions, initially at the Dvir Gallery in 1984 and 1985 and then at the 27 Gallery in 1987. Jacques Grinberg's work appealed to an enthusiastic audience and enjoyed widespread media coverage. In 1987 Grinberg returned to France. He made contact with Cérès Franco, a friend of twenty years' standing who was then director of the Galerie L'Œil-de-Bœuf in Paris. She supported him and organized four solo exhibitions for him between 1988 and 1994. In 1991 he settled in Malakoff in the Paris suburbs. ;1995-2011 During this period, Jacques Grinberg became increasingly reclusive and devoted his time exclusively to his creative work. His pictorial production was self-assured and intense. He started to write and published several collections. A number of young artists sought him out, and of these several were greatly influenced by his thinking. In 1997, the Galerie Jacques in Ann Arbor (Michigan, USA) exhibited his engravings. In 2002, the Galerie Idées d'artistes organised what would be his last solo exhibition, entitled Véhément, mélancolique. Some of his works are still regularly shown throughout France at public exhibitions of the Cérès Franco collection. In 2008, the Galerie Polad-Hardouin – wishing to pay homage to the New Figuration painters of the 1960s – organised a manifesto exhibition entitled New Figuration: Act III. Jacques Grinberg showed works from this period in the exhibition alongside others including Maryan, Michel Macréau (1935-1995),

Paul Rebeyrolle Paul Rebeyrolle (3 November 1926 in Eymoutiers – 7 February 2005 in Côte-d'Or) was a French painter. Life and works As a child he had tuberculosis of the bone, which caused for long periods of immobility. Later he studied in Limoges and joine ...

Antonio Saura Antonio Saura Atarés (September 22, 1930 – July 22, 1998) was a Spanish artist and writer, one of the major post-war painters to emerge in Spain in the fifties whose work has marked several generations of artists and whose critical voice is ...

John Christoforou John Christoforou (10 March 1921 – February 2014) was a British painter of Greek heritage. He spent his childhood in Greece, but returned to England in 1938. With the outbreak of the war, he joined the Royal Air Force where he flew missions in ...

and

Bengt Lindström Bengt Karl Erik Lindström (September 3, 1925, Berg Municipality — January 29, 2008, Sundsvall) was a Swedish artist. Lindström was one of Sweden's best known contemporary artists with a characteristic style of distinct colors, often includ ...

. Resolutely independent and passionate about painting, he continued his creative explorations with great freedom until his death on 31 May 2011. Jacques Grinberg died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. A bilingual catalogue accompanies the exhibition at the Mishkan Museum of Art (

Ein Harod (Meuhad) Ein Harod (Meuhad) ( he, עֵין חֲרוֹד מְאֻחָד) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Jezreel Valley near Mount Gilboa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. In it had a population of . The kibbutz ...

), in collaboration with The Homme bleu Foundation. In addition to texts by the curators, the catalogue contains an article by the poet

Meir Wieseltier Meir Wieseltier (Hebrew: מאיר ויזלטיר, born 1941) is a prize-winning Israeli poet and translator. Biography Meir Wieseltier was born in Moscow in 1941, shortly before the German invasion of Russia. He was taken to Novosibirsk in southwe ...

. Further exhibitions Of Grinberg's paintings are planned in 2016-2017 in FranceJacques Grinberg, ''Un peintre sans concession'',2016
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris ( Museum of Modern Art City of Paris, collector's donations) and Bulgaria".

Individual exhibitions

*1963 Galerij Kaleidoskoop, Gand, Belgium *1964 Galerie Andre Schoeller Jr Paris, France *1965 Galerie Andre Schoeller Jr Paris, France *1973 Musee Sint Pietersaldig, Gand, Belgium *1984 Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel *1985 Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel *1987 Gallery 27, Tel Aviv, Israel *1988 Galerie L'Œil de Bœuf, Cérès Franco, Paris, France *1990 Galerie L'Œil de Bœuf, Cérès Franco, Paris, France *1991 Galerie L'Œil de Bœuf, Cérès Franco, Paris, France *1994 Galerie L'Œil de Bœuf, Cérès Franco, Paris, France *2002 "Véhément Mélancolique", Galerie Idées d'artistes, Paris, France *2012 Exposition rétrospective 1961-2011,

Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximately ...

in Paris *2014 "A la force des pinceaux", Centre culturel Bulgare, Paris, France * 2015 "Jacques Grinberg - Paintings", Museum of Art Ein Harod, Israel * 2016 "entre chair et esprit", Maison des Arts de Châtillon, France * 2016 "Un peintre sans concession", Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France * 2016 "Jacques Grinberg, exposition monographique", Galerie La minotaure et Galerie Alain Le Gaillard, Paris, France

Main group exhibitions

*1959 Katz Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel *1961 Chemerinsky Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel *1963 "Quatre jeunes peintres israéliens", Galleri 27, Oslo, Norway *1963 Galleria Privada, Madrid, Spain *1963 "Art graphique juif", Librairie La Proue, Bruxelles, Belgium *1963 Peintres israéliens à Paris, Galerie Kaleidoskoop, Gand, Belgium *1964 "Moralités", Galeries Lahumiere-Levin, Paris, France *1964 "Rencontres", Galerie Krugier, Genève, Switzerland *1964 "28 Peintres d'aujourd'hui", Galerie Andre Schoeller, Paris, France *1964 Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris *1964 Salon Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France *1965 Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France *1965 Salon Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France *1965 Salon de la Jeune peinture, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France *1966 Esperanto Gallery, New York, United States *1966 "Galeries pilotes", Musée de Lausanne, Switzerland *1966 Salon Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France *1967 "Figures et histoire", Galerie Heide Hildebrand, Klagenfurt, Austria *1968 Moderna Galerija Rijeka, Yugoslavia *1969 Galeria Ivan Spence, Ibizza, Spain *1969 Galerie Claude Levin, Paris, France *1970 Galerie T. Haarlem, Netherlands *1973 Galerie de France, Paris, France *1991 "Nouvelle figuration version 90", Galerie L'Œil de Bœuf, Paris, France *1992 "Petits formats", Galerie L'Œil de Bœuf, Paris, France *1993 "l'Anormalita dell'Arte", Refettorio delle stelline, Milan, Italy *1996 "Boomerang" Paris, France *1997 Galerie Jacques, Ann Arbord, Michigan, USA *1999 "Biz'art", Bures sur Yvette, France *1999 "L'arte del's 70", Musée d'Art contemporain d'Ibizza, Spain *2000 Collection Cérès Franco, Miramas, France *2001 "L'art sous pression", Collection Cérès Franco, espace Écureuil, Toulouse France *2001 "Entre noirs et blancs", Galerie Idées d'artistes, Paris, France *2003 "Désirs Brut", des arts plastiques en Île-de-France, Les Ulis, France *2003 "Désirs Brut", Kremlin Bicêtre, France *2003 "Entre noirs et blancs", Galerie Idées d'artistes Paris, France *2004 "Un art de l'imaginaire débridé", collection Cérès Franco, Grand théâtre d'Angers, France *2004-2005 "Fragments d'Artistes", Galerie Idées d'Artistes, Paris, France *2005 "Les Imagiers Débridés", Collection Cérès Franco, Carcassonne, France *2008 "Nouvelle figuration : Acte III", Galerie Polad-Hardouin, Paris, France *2009 "Désirs Bruts", Collection Cérès Franco, Bancaja-Fundacion Caja Castellon, Spain *2013 "Den nya figurationen", World art day 15 avril, Härnösand, Sweden *2013 "Désirs Bruts", Collection Cérès Franco, Maison des Arts, Châtillon, France *2014 "Retour sur quelques artistes de la Nouvelle Figuration", Galerie Polad-Hardouin, Paris, France *2015 "En grand format", exposition inaugurale de la Coopérative-Collection Cérès Franco, Montolieu, France *2017 Collection Laurent Dumas, Villa Emerige, Paris *2016 Perpetuum Mobile, Collection Cérès Franco, Galerie Dominique Polad-Hardouin, Paris

References and sources

;References ;Sources
Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2006
site Oxford Index (subscription or library membership required)

External links

Personal Website
jacquesgrinberg.com)
Jacques Grinberg; video
vimeo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Grinberg, Jacques 1941 births 2011 deaths Artists from Sofia Bulgarian Jews Bulgarian emigrants to Israel 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists 21st-century French painters 21st-century French male artists 20th-century Israeli painters 21st-century Israeli painters Modern painters Modern printmakers Abstract expressionist artists Abstract painters French abstract artists Neo-expressionist artists