Jean Benoît (1922-2010) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

artist known as "The Enchanter of Serpents", most famous for his surrealist sculptures."Jean Benoît"
. ''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

'', May 21, 2012. He was born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

in 1922 and studied

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

at the

École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région ...

, where he met Mimi Parent, whom he married in 1948. He met

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

in 1959, and joined the

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

group that same year. In 1959, he also performed ''Exécution Du Testament Du Marquis De Sade,'' for which he made costumes. The dark, grotesque characters wore sharp, seemingly mechanical pieces mixing biomorphic, animalistic shapes that make the humans look like torture devices. Breton mentioned Benoit in ''Surrealism and Painting'': "STAND ASIDE to let the Marquis de Sade pass 'in his own likeness' and reinvented by Jean Benoît with all his powers." One sculpture called "Book Cover for Magnetic Fields" features demonic figures ripping an egg from a book. ''Magnetic Fields'' was the name of the book Breton wrote with

Philippe Soupault Philippe Soupault (2 August 1897 – 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later was instrumental in founding the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault ini ...

, which Breton called the first surrealist book. Many of his works include demonic figures, brutal sexual images, exaggerated phalluses, and so on. Benoît was active and remained productive, working every day on his art until he died on August 20, 2010, in Paris. He was 88. The memorial service was scheduled for September 11, 2010 at the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

in Paris by the Benoît family. He is the subject of

Deco Dawson Deco Dawson is the professional name of Darryl Kinaschuk, a Ukrainian Canadian experimental filmmaker. He is most noted as a two-time winner of the Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Short Film, winning at the 2001 Toronto ...

's 2012 short film ''

Keep a Modest Head ''Keep a Modest Head'' (french: Ne crâne pas sois modeste) is a Canadian short documentary film, directed by Deco Dawson and released in 2012."Headgames: Deco Dawson’s 'Ne crane pas sois modeste (keep a modest head)'"
''

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'', December 2012.

References

1922 births 2010 deaths Canadian surrealist artists Sculptors from Quebec École des beaux-arts de Montréal alumni {{Canada-sculptor-stub