Background
RUSTIN, Jean was born on March 3, 1928 in Moselle. Son of Georges Rustin and An dree Carrat.
RUSTIN, Jean was born on March 3, 1928 in Moselle. Son of Georges Rustin and An dree Carrat.
At the age of 19 he moved to Paris where he studied at the School of Fine Arts, in the studio of Untersteller.
Galerie Louisiana Roue, Paris 1959-1968, American Red Cross (Musee Art Modeme, Ville de Paris) 1971, Galerie 9, Paris 1972-1975, Tsuchya Gallery, Japan 1973, Maison des Arts, Creteil 1982, Galerie Isy Brachot 1981-1986; numerous group exhibitions including Foire Devand-Lineart, Belgium 1990, Galerie Mamia Neerman, Bruges, Belgium since 1986; subject of books including Rustin by Edward Lucie-Smith 1991. Leisure interest the violin.During the 1950s he was mainly preoccupied with abstract painting but from the 1970s he embarked on figuration. He created a bizarre world of human figures, where an existential dead-end is transformed into fright, abhorrence, pity but also relief. The artist stated that..."I realize that behind my artistic creation, behind the fascination for the naked body, there are twenty centuries of painting, primarily religious, twenty centuries of dead Christs, tortured martyrs, gory revolutions, massacres and shattered dreams I realize that history and maybe art history are engraved on the body and flesh of mentor.." The work of Rustin is relatively unknown.
Until the late 1960s, his abstract painting had a large following in France.
However, while most European and American artists were widening the gap between themselves and the figurative traditions that preceded Modernism, Rustin started to swim against the current, a decision which cost him dearly in the short term. 1959 -1969: Galerie Louisiana Roue, Paris, France 1980-1986: Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris, France 1986-1993: Galerie Marnix Neerman, Bruges, Belgium Since 1993: Rustin Foundation, Antwerp, Belgium 1971: American Red Cross,, France, Catalogue 1982: Maison des Arts André Malraux, Créteil, Paris, France, Catalogue 1994: Städlische Galerie und Ludwig Institut, Schloss Oberhausen, Germany MAC, Sâo Paulo, Brazil Markiezenhof, Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands, Catalogue 1996 The Delfino Studio Trust, London Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo, Brazil 1997 Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de la Universidade de Chile, Santiago, Chile 2000 Veranneman Foundation, Brussels, Belgium, and Frissiras Museum, Athens, Greece 2001 Halle Saint-Pierre and Galerie Marie Vitoux, Paris, France.
Married Elsa Courand in 1949.