Background
Jean Benoit was born on August 27, 1922 in Quebec, Canada.
Jean Benoit studied art at the School of Fine Arts in Montreal (École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal) under Alfred Pellan.
Jean Benoit was born on August 27, 1922 in Quebec, Canada.
Jean Benoit studied art at the School of Fine Arts in Montreal (École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal) under Alfred Pellan.
Benoit left Quebec in 1948 to settle in Paris, where they eventually met André Breton in 1959.
Benoit participated in surrealist activities, bringing to them a personal touch of non-conformity and iconoclasm most evidenced in his performance "Executing the will of the Marquis de Sade", which took place at Joyce Mansour's apartment in Paris in December of 1959 and 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.
Many of his works include demonic figures, brutal sexual images, exaggerated phalluses, and so on. Examples were "The Magnetic Fields" and "Fad in head".
Refusing to present his work publicly when he saw no other reason than a desire for fame, he was nevertheless featured in two exhibitions in France which stressed his artistic importance: Sauvages des villes, sauvages des îles, at the Centre for Contemporary Art at Noyers in 1992; and most importantly his first personal exhibition in October 1996 at the Galerie 1900-2000 in Paris.
Benoit was active and remained productive, working every day on his art until his death on August 20, 2010 in Paris, France. He was 88. The memorial service was scheduled for September 11, 2010 at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris by the Benoit family.
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Costume for the Execution of the Testament of the Marquis de Sade
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The Magnetic Fields
The Eagle, Miss...
Costume for the Execution of the Testament of the Marquis de Sade
Costume
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Fad in head
Langage des Oiseaux
The Necrophile (dedicated to Sergeant Bertrand)
Adam and Eve
The same Way
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Costume for the Execution of the Testament of the Marquis de Sade
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Jean Benoit married Mimi Parent, a Canadian surrealist artist, in 1948.