Background
Jean Le Moal was born on October 30, 1909 in Ardeche, France.
Jean Le Moal was born on October 30, 1909 in Ardeche, France.
Le Moal enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Lyon in 1926 and at the École des Arts Decoratifs de Paris in 1929, before opting to study painting at various Academies in Montparnasse, and Montmartre. He also attended the Académie Ranson during 1935 – 1936.
In Académie Ranson Jean started working in the company of other young artists of the new generation of avant-garde, including Jean Bazaine, Etienne-Martin, and François Stahly. Le Moal would also regularly participate in the informal Saturday meetings organised by Francis Gruber to exchange and discuss ideas. He began to exhibit at salons such as the Salon des Jeunes Artistes, and the Salon d’Automne, and was soon recognised as a force of the Jeune École de Paris. In 1937 he contributed to the Exposition Universelle de Paris, and in 1939 he worked on the 1400sq.meter ceiling of the French Pavilion at the International Exhibition in New York.
During the war he exhibited in the two highly important exhibitions detailed above, and subsequently became a leading figure in post-war painting in Europe. In 1945 he was a founding member of the bastion of the post-war avant-garde, the Salon de Mai. During the next few years Le Moal exhibited extensively throughout Europe and internationally. After the war Le Moal, like other leading artists, also received many of commissions for public projects such as murals and stained-glass designs including the enormous stained glass wall of the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Rennes.
The artist’s work is currently represented in numerous major Museums of Modern Art, including the Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne in Paris; Tate Modern Gallery in London; Museum of Modern Art in Wellington, New Zealand; Museum of Modern Art in Mexico; Modern Art Mueum of Luxembourg; Onstad Museum in Norway; Museo de Arte in Chilli; Musée d’Art Contemporain in Yugoslavia; and Musée de Turin in Italy.