“No art can trigger emotion if it is not somehow connected with reality. This reference, this fragment

– however slight or intangible – is the key to understanding the entire work.

It makes it legible; it enlightens its meaning, it opens up its deepest, most ultimate reality to sensitivity, the real core of intelligence”

Jean Fautrier, in “À chacun sa réalité”, XXe siècle, No 9, June 1957

Paris – From 8 to 22 September, Christie’s will present an exhibition dedicated to Jean Fautrier (1898- 1964), celebrating the launch of the catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint de Jean Fautrier published by Marie-José Lefort (Éditions Norma, September 2023). With a selection of some thirty major works from private collections – many shown in public for the first time in several years – the exhibition aims to shed

a light on the French artist’s exceptional legacy. It will present the evolution of Fautrier's art, from his 1920s figurative paintings up until his postwar Art Informel. All through his life, Fautrier was close to some of the 20th century’s greatest minds, such as Francis Ponge, René Char, André Malraux, and Jean Paulhan. This event is named after Jean Paulhan's book – Fautrier l’Enragé, Blaizon 1949 – dedicated to the painter.

Pierre Martin-Vivier, Vice-President, and Paul Nyzam, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s France comment: “It's with a sense of respect and emotion that Christie’s decided to sponsor the publication of Marie-José Lefort's catalogue raisonné on paintings by Jean Fautrier, as this long-term endeavour started almost forty years ago. This very richly-illustrated catalogue, referencing over 1,200 paintings, will contribute to a better understanding of the works by the artist and his recognition on the market. As we wanted the launch to be a great event in the art world, we decided to organise a simultaneous exhibition of some of his prominent works. Besides these two events, Dieter Schwarz – the former director of the Winterthur Fine Arts Museum in Switzerland – will launch a book paying tribute to the artist (Jean Fautrier: Textes, entretiens et témoignages, L’Échoppe, September 2023). We are honoured to participate in what will be a whole season dedicated to Jean Fautrier.”

Marie-José Lefort in the foreword to the Catalogue raisonné on paintings: “I began this research on Jean Fautrier’s paintings in memory of Jeanne Castel, as she was the first to make me discover his work. Palma Bucarelli’s help was also invaluable as she gave me all her archives. Thanks to her, Fautrier’s first paintings are now in Italian museums. I wanted to pay tribute to the Castels and especially Jeanne; without her, Fautrier might never have been recognised as the great 20th-century artist he is...”.

The power of Fautrier’s work, “la rage de l'expression” – a nod to Francis Ponge – makes a lasting impression on viewers. Drawing on real life to transfigure it, and reinventing the genres of nude, landscape, and still life paintings during the Interwar period, the artist later created an Art Informel made of materials and colours, but always anchored in reality. Visitors will rediscover the solitary journey of this pioneering artist, as well as his works particularly resonating with the 20th century’s historical events.

His 1923 encounter with the art dealer Jeanne Castel would prove especially significant, as she became a lifelong supporter of his work. The Galerie Visconti in Paris gave the artist a first opportunity to exhibit his paintings in 1924, while Jeanne Castel and Paul Guillaume organised a large- scale exhibition at the famous Georges Bernheim gallery in 1928. After meeting Fautrier the same year in Jeanne Castel’s home, André Malraux invited the artist to illustrate a text of his choice, and Fautrier selected Dante’s Inferno. Despite the contract signed with Gallimard in 1930, the plates were deemed unpublishable because of their disturbing boldness. The project was therefore abandoned for good in 1944-1945. Malraux nevertheless wrote about

Fautrier’s work on several occasions. In 1928, the artist also established himself as one of Art Informel’s trailblazers, turning the canvas into a living surface by adding and

combining different materials, and composing almost architectural, pictorial views of an extraordinary materiality. He gave up painting because of the Great Depression in 1929-1930.

He started painting again a few years later, his works bearing witness to the Second World War’s tragedies – he himself was arrested and released by the French Gestapo. The horrors of war inspired very powerful

series – Otages (1943-1945), Objets (1947-1948), Partisans (1956) – leading to his recognition as a prominent artist. Painting, driven to its limits, uses the power of material to express what is inexpressible, indescribable, and even inconceivable. Fautrier’s work disturbs and unsettles the viewer. The artist emphasises horrors using colours and creating plaster and pigment impastos, as epitomised by this painting. The viewer can almost sense the painter’s emotions when faced with the Massacre (1943).

In the 1950s, he became better known amongst international art circles, and turned to new subjects, most notably the Nus series. In 1960, as a guest of honour at the Venice Biennale, he was awarded the International Grand Prize for Painting, and he also won the International Grand Prize at the 8th Tokyo Biennale in 1961.