Jean Rustin (3 March 1928 – 24 December 2013) was a French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and prominent figurative artist.

Biography

Rustin was born at

Montigny-lès-Metz Montigny-lès-Metz (, literally ''Montigny near Metz''; , (1940-1944) ''Montenich'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the largest suburb of the city of Metz, and is adjacent to it on the west. P ...

on 3 March 1928. At the age of 19 he moved to

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 ...

where he studied at the

School of Fine Arts The School of Fine Arts or College of Fine Arts is the official name or part of the name of several schools of fine arts, often as an academic part of a larger university. These include: The Americas North America *Alabama School of Fine ...

, in the studio of Untersteller. During the 1950s he was mainly preoccupied with abstract painting but from the 1970s he embarked on figuration. He created a bizarre world of human figures, where an existential dead-end is transformed into fright, abhorrence, pity but also relief. The artist stated that....."I realize that behind my artistic creation, behind the fascination for the naked body, there are twenty centuries of painting, primarily religious, twenty centuries of dead Christs, tortured martyrs, gory revolutions, massacres and shattered dreams ..I realize that history and maybe art history are engraved on the body and flesh of men....." The work of Rustin is relatively unknown. Until the late 1960s, his abstract painting had a large following in France. However, while most European and American artists were widening the gap between themselves and the figurative traditions that preceded Modernism, Rustin started to swim against the current, a decision which cost him dearly in the short term.

Personal exhibits

* 1959 -1969 : Galerie La Roue, Paris, France * 1980-1986 : Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris, France * 1986-1993 : Galerie Marnix Neerman, Bruges, Belgium * Since 1993 : Rustin Foundation, Antwerp, Belgium * 1971 : ARC, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France, Catalogue * 1982 : Maison des Arts André Malraux, Créteil, Paris, France, Catalogue * 1994 : Städlische Galerie und Ludwig Institut,

Schloss Oberhausen ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cognate ...

, Germany * MAC, Sâo Paulo, Brazil Markiezenhof, Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands, Catalogue * 1996 The Delfino Studio Trust, London *

Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo The Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo (Portuguese, ''Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo'') is a contemporary art museum located in the main campus of the University of São Paulo, in São Paulo, Brazil ...

, Brazil * 1997 Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de la Universidade de Chile, Santiago, Chile * 2000 Veranneman Foundation, Brussels, Belgium, and

Frissiras Museum Frissiras Museum is a contemporary painting museum in Plaka Athens, Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located a ...

, Athens, Greece * 2001 Halle Saint-Pierre and Galerie Marie Vitoux, Paris, France

Works in public collections

* Algeria: Musée National des Beaux-Arts,

El Hamma El Hamma ( ar, الحامة ') is an oasis town located in the Gabès Governorate, 30 kilometers west of Gabès, Tunisia and near the eastern end of Chott el Fejej. Its population in 2014 was 73,512. Etymology The Arabic name ( حامة ) come ...

* Germany: Hamburger Kunsthalle * Städtische Galerie et Ludwig Institut, Schloss Oberhausen * England:

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, London *

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

, Cambridge * Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham * Brazil:

* Chile: Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago * Spain: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona * USA: Art Museum,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

* Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden *

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Washington * The New Orleans Museum of Art * France: Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris * Fond Régional d'Art Contemporain de Seine-Saint-Denis * Fond Régional d'Art Contemporain, Rhône-Alpes * Fond Régional d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne * Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Monographs

* ''Rustin,'' Entretiens avec Michel Troche, textes de Bernard Noël et Marc Le Bot, Editions de l’Equinoxe, Paris, 1984. * Edward Lucie-Smith, ''Rustin,'' London, 1991. * Agnès Meray, ''Regards sur l'Œuvre de Jean Rustin,'' Thèse, Université de Paris I, 1992. * Revue Enfers, ''Jean Rustin,'' April 1996, textes de Claude Roffat, Pascal Quignard, Agnès Meray, Jean Clair, Françoise Ascal, Edition Pleine Marge, Paris.

References

3. "L'enfant d'Ingolstadt" by author Pascal Quignard, 2018, (in French). Profiles Jean Rustin and reflects on his work. Chapters I, XXXI. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rustin, Jean 1928 births 2013 deaths People from Montigny-lès-Metz French artists