Jean-Michel Atlan
15-21 Rue de l'École de Médecine, 75006 Paris, France
Sorbonne University where Jean-Michel Atlan studied philosophy.
8 Rue du Havre, 75009 Paris, France
Lycée Condorcet where Jean-Michel Atlan taught till 1941.
1949
(Left to right) Jacques Doucet, Constant, Christian Dotremont, Denise Atlan, Jean-Michel Atlan, Corneille and Karel Appel at Cobra meeting in Atlan's studio in Paris.
Jean-Michel Atlan at work.
Jean-Michel Atlan
1949
(Left to right) Jacques Doucet, Constant, Christian Dotremont, Denise Atlan, Jean-Michel Atlan, Corneille and Karel Appel at Cobra meeting in Atlan's studio in Paris.
15-21 Rue de l'École de Médecine, 75006 Paris, France
Sorbonne University where Jean-Michel Atlan studied philosophy.
8 Rue du Havre, 75009 Paris, France
Lycée Condorcet where Jean-Michel Atlan taught till 1941.
Jean-Michel Atlan in Villiers-sur-Tholon.
Jean-Michel Atlan at work.
Jean-Michel Atlan
Gertrude Stein
Pierre Soulages, one of Jean-Michel Atlan's friends.
Jean-Michel Atlan was born on January 23, 1913, Constantine, Algeria to a Jewish family. He was a son of Liaou Atlan and Rachel Atlan.
Jean-Michel had two brothers, Pierre André Jules Atlan and Camille Sovvka Jane Atlan.
Atlan grew up in Turkey and Paris.
Jean-Michel Atlan had studied for some time in Istanbul. In 1930, he left the capital of Turkey to enter the Sorbonne University in Paris. At the institution, Atlan studied philosophy.
During the occupation, Jean-Michel began to explore painting technics himself.
Jean-Michel Atlan began his career in 1939 as a professor of philosophy at Lycée de Laval. Later, the artist had taught at Lycée Condorcet in Paris till 1941.
The same period, Atlan wrote surrealist poems illustrating them by simple drawings. He also started to create his first paintings as a self-taught artist. His debut creations were the pictures of figures and landscapes made firstly in expressionist style which then changed to an abstract one.
During the war occupation, Jean-Michel Atlan collaborated actively with the Resistance. The artist lost his teaching license and because of his political activity and Jewish origins, was arrested by the Nazis in 1942. Atlan pretended to have a mental illness, and was placed for two-years at the Saint-Anne asylum.
After the Liberation in 1944, Jean-Michel Atlan published his poetry collection dubbed The Deep Blood (Le Sang Profond in French) and started to present his painting at different group and solo exhibitions. The debut one took place at the Galerie de l'Arc-en-Ciel in Paris.
In 1945 he was introduced to the London and New York art circles due to the protection of Gertrude Stein. Among the artist's friends and his art admirers were Hans Hartung, Paul Schneider, Pierre Soulages and Serge Poliakoff. A year later, Atlan got acquainted with Asger Jorn and joined the CoBrA art group. Inspired by the Primitivism of the group, the artist started to paint abstract and figurative imaginary animal figures and presented them regularly at the exhibitions organized by CoBrA. The same year, Altan created the lithography series for “Description of a fight” by Franz Kafka.
Despite this first success, since 1947 the artist had no exhibitions and found himself in poverty.
The recognition returned to Jean-Michel Atlan in 1956 when he designed a poster for the exhibition of the new 'École de Paris' at the Charpentier gallery and an exhibition at the Bing gallery in Paris. The exhibitions provided the artist with the popularity around France, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.
Jean-Michel Atlan was a gifted artist considered as one of the major representatives of Paris artistic School.
His artworks are the part of multiple museum collections in France and abroad such as the Tate Gallery in London and the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris. The latter organized a retrospective in the artist’s honor in 1963.
In 2007, Antinea by Atlan was purchased for $495,651 at Versailles Auction: Perrin-Royère-Lajeunesse.
Quotations: "Painting can go much further than anyone can imagine. Primitive people believed they were magicians when they were making art. We believe we are making art, when we are actually using powerful magic strengths. This magic is rhythm first, because rhythm generates breath and life. Rhythm creates forms and gives dance and painting this sacred dimension…"
Jean-Michel Atlan was married to Denise Suzanne Hélène Jeanne Atlan.
