Background

Degottex was born in Sathonay-Camp, France, on February 25, 1918, in a poor family.

Education

Jean Degottex is mainly a self-taught painter. He briefly studied drawing in the academies of Montparnasse.

Career

Degottex started to paint when he was about twenty. From 1939 to 1941 he served in Tunisia, and between 1939 and 1941 he had his military service in Algeria. Concurrently, he created his first paintings; they were mostly figurative and influenced by Fauvism. Around this time he decided to devote himself entirely to painting.

Jean Degottex had been participating in the Salon des moins de Thirty ans since 1941. In 1948 he turned towards abstraction. In 1949, his first exhibition was organized by Denise René, who had pioneered the abstract avant-garde movement since the war and was to become the most significant dealer of the new Paris school of art in the 1950s. The same year, the artist became acquainted with Renée Beslon, a poet, visual artist, and art critic. He also met Roger Van Gindertaël, an editor-in-chief of Cimaise magazine, and Charles Estienne, an art critic of Combat newspaper.

In 1952 Degottex's works were shown at the Maeght gallery as part of the Mains éblouies show. In 1953 his work was shown during the Younger European Painters exhibition at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York. The same year he exhibited for the first time at the gallery L'Étoile Sealed, with André Breton as its artistic director.

Throughout the decade, along with Simon Hantaï, Jean Degottex pioneered a lyrical abstraction which became a major influence on the New York School. Around this time, he became to create canvases filled with large, quasi-calligraphic brushstrokes against increasingly neutral backgrounds. Degottex's exploration of abstraction encouraged him down new and more personal paths.

In 1955, then in 1956, he exhibited his paintings at the Kleber Gallery, directed by Jean Fournier. He became friends with poet Bernard Heidsieck, with painters Françoise Janicot, Jean Dupuy and sculptor Paul Gette. In 1959, the artist joined the International Gallery of Contemporary Art, curated by Maurice d'Arquian. He became well-known abroad, particularly in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

The year 1963 was a turning point in his life: the accidental death of his daughter became a period of total isolation during which Degottex ceased painting. When he resumed creating new works he abandoned the traditional techniques of painting and extended his research of materials.

Between 1972 and 1976 he held several solo exhibitions at Galerie Germain, displaying the series titled Media. With his Papiers-Report (1977), he began to explore a new technique that involved "folding". He produced such series as Lines-Report and Plis-Report, both of 1978. Then follow the Dia series (Dia-Collor, Dia-Umber, Dia-tra, Dia-Noir).

In 1979 he organized a solo exhibition at the Abbey of Sénanque in Gordes, presenting a series of paintings called Déplis. His last works included Lignes-Bois (1985) and Contre-Lignes Bois (1986).

Achievements

• 

  Jean Degottex was known to be a pioneer of lyrical abstraction, becoming one of the leading artists of the 20th century. In 1951 he received the Kandinsky Prize, and in 1981 the Grand Prix National de Peinture.
  
  Today, his works are held in various public collections, including such museums as the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Unterlinden Museum, the Museum of Grenoble, the National Foundation for Contemporary Art, France, the Ohara Museum of Art, Japan, etc.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Lignes-Report I

  • Metagraphie rose

  • Levez le doigt et tout l'univers est là

  • Untitled

  • Breve

  • unknown title

  • Unhl bleu II, 4-70

  • Les alliances de juillet

  • Les alliances Thème Rose

  • Métasigne trois 4-4-1961

  • L'Île Rouge

  • unknown title

  • Untitled

  • Wave

  • Gidayu III

  • Media (VII)

  • Pli x Pli III

  • Metasphere (II)

  • unknown title

  • Chattigraphie

  • Untitled

  • Pecheurs sur la riviere

  • Bande rose

  • Untitled

  • unknown title

  • Depli blanc I

  • Sans titre (Métasphère)

  • Hagakure (X)

  • Depli bleu (II)

  • Depli graphite (V)

  • unknown title

  • Horsphère

  • Horlignes 21

  • Écriture 10.2.63

  • Graphisme

  • Débris (XXII)

  • Metasphere rouge

  • Grille-Color Branc II

  • Dia noir II

  • Untitled

  • unknown title

  • Dia noir V

  • Breve VI

  • Red Petal 2

  • Media

  • Composition

  • Suite La Rose

  • unknown title

  • Antee III

  • Composition

  • Untitled

  • Déplis

  • Pensée de transition

  • Bris-signe

  • Suite Obscure V

  • Suite Rouge IX

  • Yugen III

  • Écriture

Views

In 1954 he became an adherent of Zen philosophy and its essential principles.

Personality

Jean Degottex was a tireless innovator.

References

• La Peinture Apres l'Abstraction This book contains the artworks by Martin Barre, Jean Degottex, Raymond Hains, Simon Hantai, Jacques Villegle.
  1999