Background
Hervé Télémaque was born on November 5, 1937 in Port-au-prince, Ouest, Haiti.
Hervé Télémaque was born on November 5, 1937 in Port-au-prince, Ouest, Haiti.
Hervé Télémaque tackled collage for the first time in 1970.
Hervé's artistic development occurred mainly at the end of the 1950s in New York in an art scene dominated by abstract expressionism. In 1961 he moved to Paris at a time when that luminous city was losing its aura as the capital of the arts to New York.
In France he met the main artists of surrealism without actually being attached to the movement. His visual language evolved under the influence of advertising images – which he didn’t hesitate to divert for his own purposes, as in the work "Petit célibataire un peu nègre, et assez joyeux", painted in 1965 that was used as the poster for the exhibition. Comics were another major influence, notably those by Hergé; Télemaque appreciated his technique of clear lines. In 1964, in collaboration with the painter Rancillac and the critic Gérald Gassiot-Talabot, he organized the exhibition “Mythologies quotidiennes” at the Musée d’Art Moderne of the city of Paris. This event marked the birth of the narrative figuration movement, which was presented as an alternative to abstraction and, at the same time, as a critical perspective on consumer society.
Télémaque’s work uses a great variety of techniques and is notable for its hybrid character. Inspired by American artist Robert Rauschenberg, Télémaque inserted objects into his own works, such as "Présent où es-tu ?", and liberated himself from the classical format, and from the exhibition wall. In addition, when he was dissatisfied with painting in 1968 he devoted time to creating objects, and returned to them in 1970, making collages between 1974 and 1980, and assemblages from 1979 to 1996. Parallel to this, he experimented with charcoal drawing during 1993 - 2002. His more recent paintings, created in 2000 - 2015, deal with explicitly political subjects that refer to his African roots and current French politics. Conversely, the 74 works that span the career of this Haiti-born artist are mostly located in French public collections.
Hervé Télémaque’s works do not reveal their content easily. And, although the artist denies it, there are some similarities with the principle of the “rebus”, a puzzle composed of parts of words or pictures.
Télémaque has always regarded the critical dimension of his work as very important. In addition, beside subjects of an autobiographical nature, he has tackled themes such as racism, colonialism and imperialism.
Herve is married to Maël Telemaque.
