Jacques Monory

Jacques Monory (25 June 1924 – 17 October 2018) was a French painter and filmmaker whose work, highly influenced by photography and cinema, is an allegory of the contemporary world with a focus on the violence of everyday reality. His canvases evoke a heavy atmosphere, pulling subject matter from modern civilization through the lens of his signature monochrome color blue.

Exhibitions

Monory's work was exhibited from 12 January to 23 February 2018 at th
Richard Taittinger Gallery
in New York City. The New York Times featured the show in an article title

Martha Schwendener wrote, "Mr. Monory’s canvases can be easily compared to the work of ’80s American postmodern painters like David Salle, Jack Goldstein, Troy Brauntuch and Eric Fischl, but he has a soft spot for older figurative artists, too, like Edward Hopper. “Spéciale n°54 Hommage à Hopper” (2007) features a house with a nearby road sign for the Hopper Center — although no such institution exists, except in this painting, which functions, as does most of Mr. Monory’s work, like a movie screen where fantastical drama and action are routinely played out.".

Work

Monory was first exhibited at the Drouant-David Gallery in Paris in 1952. During the 1960s, he became one of the leading figures of the European movement o
Pop Art
called Narrative Figuration by the art critic Gérald Gassiot-Talabot. Monory would say: “What has developed in France has moved away from American Pop Art, we have expressed a critical narrative of society while the Americans have almost always, in my opinion, embraced their system. This is a fundamental difference.”

In 1968, he directed the influential fil
Ex-
and painted the serie
Les Meurtres (Murders)
putting in place the elements that would characterize his work: the division into sequences, the distancing by the use of the blue color, the dream, the illusion, but also a critical look at society.

In 1971, Pierre Gaudibert curated a solo exhibition, Monory Catalogue 1968- 1971 at th
Modern Art Museum
of Paris which heightened his visibility, making him instantly recognizable. Two trips to the United States in 1969 and 1973 were vitally important to his personal and artistic history; it constitutes, from photos, a repertory of forms, images, and notebooks of models. In 1974, he joined the legendary gallery o
Aimé Maeght
where he would exhibit, including his Operas Glacés (Frozen Operas).

In 1986, he exhibited at th
42nd Venice Biennale
and in 1992, he was the featured artist of the French Pavilion at the World Expo in Seville. In 2005, his work inaugurated the MACVAL in France with Detour, a large spiral installation of his paintings. In 2008, Monory was highlighted in the retrospective exhibition Figuration Narrative, at th
Grand Palais
in Paris. In 2015, a solo retrospective, Jacques Monory, took place at th
Helene & Edouard Leclerc Fund for Culture
in Landerneau, France.

His work is included in the permanent collections o
Pompidou Center
Paris, France
The Museum of Modern Art
Paris, France
Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art
Geneva, Switzerland
Museum of Modern Art
Fukoka, Japan; th
Maeght Foundation
Saint-Paul de Vence, France
National Museum of Fine Arts
Havana Cuba
the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art
Seoul, South Korea
the Ludwig Museum
Cologne, Germany
the Museum of Solidarity Salvador Allende
Santiago, Chile
the Stedelijk Museum
Amsterdam, Holland; and th
Museum Colecção Berardo
Lisbon, Portugal.

References

Luxembourg National Museum of History and Art. Accessed 2011-01-05.

La Figuration narrative
Centre Pompidou. Accessed 2011-01-05.

galerie anne-marie et roland pallade

* Cachan. Accessed 2018-02-06

"What to See in Galleries This Week" (2018-01-24)
New York Times. Accessed 2018-01-24.

Richard Taittinger Gallery
Accessed 2018-02-08.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monory, Jacques
1924 births
2018 deaths
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
French male painters
21st-century French painters
21st-century French male artists
Pop artists
Painters from Paris