About the artist:

Jacques Monory (25 June 1924 – 17 October 2018) was a French painter and filmmaker whose work, highly influenced by photography and cinema, is an allegory of the contemporary world with a focus on the violence of everyday reality. His canvases evoke a heavy atmosphere, pulling subject matter from modern civilization through the lens of his signature monochrome color blue. His canvases suggest heavy atmospheres while pulling subject matter from modern civilization, often using silkscreen processes that borrow from photographic and cinematographic sources, and a reliance on monochrome color. Monory was first exhibited at the Drouant-David Gallery in Paris in 1952. During the 1960s, he became one of the leading figures of the European movement of Pop Art, called Narrative Figuration by the art critic Gérald Gassiot-Talabot. Monory would say: “What has developed in France has moved away from American Pop Art, we have expressed a critical narrative of society while the Americans have almost always, in my opinion, embraced their system. This is a fundamental difference.” In 1968, he directed the influential film Ex- and painted the series Les Meurtres (Murders), putting in place the elements that would characterize his work: the division into sequences, the distancing by the use of the blue color, the dream, the illusion, but also a critical look at society. In 1971, Pierre Gaudibert curated a solo exhibition, Monory Catalogue 1968- 1971 at the Modern Art Museum of Paris which heightened his visibility, making him instantly recognizable. Two trips to the United States in 1969 and 1973 were vitally important to his personal and artistic history; it constitutes, from photos, a repertory of forms, images, and notebooks of models. In 1974, he joined the legendary gallery of Aimé Maeght, where he would exhibit, including his Operas Glacés (Frozen Operas). In 1986, he exhibited at the 42nd Venice Biennale, and in 1992, he was the featured artist of the French Pavilion at the World Expo in Seville. In 2005, his work inaugurated the MACVAL in France with Detour, a large spiral installation of his paintings. In 2008, Monory was highlighted in the retrospective exhibition Figuration Narrative, at the Grand Palais in Paris. In 2015, a solo retrospective, Jacques Monory, took place at the Helene & Edouard Leclerc Fund for Culture in Landerneau, France. His work is included in the permanent collections of Pompidou Center, Paris, France; The Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France; Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland; Museum of Modern Art, Fukoka, Japan; the Maeght Foundation, Saint-Paul de Vence, France; National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana Cuba; the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany; the Museum of Solidarity Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chili; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland; and the Museum Colecção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal. Exhibitions 2012 Monory/ Grands formats, Galerie IUFM Confluence(s), Lyon, France Monory/ petits formats, Galerie anne marie et roland pallade, Lyon, France 2011 Monory photographe, Galerie RueVisconti, Paris Images, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienne, Autriche Monory, Orangerie de Cachan, Parc Raspail, Cachan, (Val de Marne), France 2010 Monory, librairie Saint Hubert, Galeries du Roi 2, Bruxelles, Belgique Evasion, Forteresse de Salses, Salses-le-Château (Pyrénées Orientales), France Monory, Maison Elsa Triolet-Aragon, Saint-Arnoult en Yvelines, france 2009 Tigre, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence (Alpes-Maritimes), France 2008 Roman Photo, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris Jacques Monory, 72/08, Galerie Maeght, Paris Roman noir, Galerie Sonia Zannettacci, Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris 2007 Folies de femmes, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienne, Autriche Espace Jean Legendre Souvenir, Théâtre de Compiègne (Oise), France 2006 Années 70, galerie Maeght, Paris 2005 Détour, inauguration of the museum of the Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, France Couleur, Gallery Laurent Strouk, Paris Vitrines W, Gallery Ernst Hilger, Vienna, Austria Multiples, Domaine de Lescombe, Eysines, France 2004 J'ai vécu une autre vie, Fondation Claudine and Jean-Marc Salomon, Alex, France Shopping, Maison des Arts de Malakoff, France Monophonie, Gallery Sonia Zannettacci, Art Paris, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France 2003 Extraits, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany Nocturne, Espace Paul Rebeyrolle, Eymoutiers, France 2002 Trente six baisers, deux tremblements, une énigme, Château prieural de Montsempron-Libos, France Nuit,Gallery Antonio Pratès, Lisbon, Portugal La vie imaginaire de Jonc'Erouas Cym, Gallery Ernst Hilger, Vienna, Austria Baisers peintures et multiples, Gallery Ernst Hilger, Paris, France 2000 Tremblement,(one man show), Gallery Sonia Zannettacci, F.I.A.C. Paris, France 1999 Monory, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dole, France La nuit, Gallery Sonia Zannettacci, Geneva, Switzerland Ex-crime, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, salle Chemellier, Angers, France Monory, Ecole Régionale des Beaux-Arts et Grandes Galeries-Aître Saint-Maclou, Rouen, France Documents, Palais des Congrès, Paris, France Monory, Gallery Guimpel fils, London, UK 1998 Epilogue, Maison d'Art Contemporain Le Petit Chailloux, Fresnes, France Monory, Musée de Sainte-Croix, Les Sables-d'Olonne, France Monory, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Chartres, France 1997 Kuldi (Froid), Municipal Art Museum, Reykjavik, Islande Enigme 3, Gallery Nová Sin, Prague, Tzek Republique Polar et peintures, Jacques Monory, library Arthaud, Grenoble, France 1996 Enigmes 1, Gallery du Théâtre, Cherbourg, France Enigmes 2, Gallery Le Grand Café, festival Délit d'Encre, Saint-Nazaire, France Cinénigme, Villa Tamaris, La Seyne-sur-mer, France 1995 Jardinage, Champclause, France 1994 les éléments du désastre, Gallery Lelong, Paris, France 1992 Suppéments, Gallery Andata/Ritorno, Geneva, Switzerland french pavilion, universal exhibition of Sevilla, Spain 1991 Le dernier tableau, Gallery Andata/Ritorno, Geneva, Switzerland Noir, Gallery Lelong, Paris, France 1990 Come-back, Gallery Sonia Zannettacci, Geneva, Switzerland Alptraum, Gallery Loft, Paris, France Sade-révolution-impossible, Centre culturel d'Aoste, Italia 1989 Le peintre, Abbaye des Cordeliers, Châteauroux, France Le peintre bis, Gallery Lelong, Paris, France Grands formats en bleu, rose et noir, Gallery Art 4, Paris, France 1988 Le Peintre, Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste, centre de développement culturel, Calais, France Projection, Musée Saint-Roch, Issoudun, France 1987 La Voleuse, Gallery Maeght-Lelong, Paris, France 1984 Toxique, A.R.C., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France Encore une fois paraître à la terrasse, Gallery Andata/Ritorno and Gallery Pierre Huber, Geneva, Switzerland Monory, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1983 Dynamite, Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, France 1982 Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai, France Maison de la Culture, Nevers, France Musée des Beaux-Arts, Pau, France Monory, Sigma, Bordeaux, France 1981 Ciels, nébuleuses et galaxies, Gallery Maeght, Paris, France 1980 Gallery Maeght, Barcelone, Spain Monory 3., Lunds Konsthalle, Lunds, Sweden 1979 Monory, Maison de la Culture de Rennes, France 1978 Technicolor, Gallery Maeght, Paris, France Technicolor, Gallery Maeght, Zurich, Switzerland 1977 Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgien Récits tremblants, Gallery de Larcos, Paris, France Hommage à Caspar David Friedrich, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany 1976 Opéras glacés, Gallery Maeght, Paris, France 1975 Louisiane Museum, Humlebaeck, Danemark Gallery Maeght, Zurich, Switzerland 1974 Les premiers numéros du catalogue mondial des images incurables, C.N.A.C. Centre National d'Art contemporain, Paris, France 1973 Velvet Jungle, Galleria Arte Borgogna, Milan, Italia Galleria S. Michele, Brescia, Italia Cultural Centre of Villeparisis, France 1972 Velvet Jungle, Stedelijk Muséum, Amsterdam, Hollande Musée de Saint-Etienne, France Neue Gallery, Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany 1971 Gallery Klang, Koln, Germany Velvet Jungle, N.Y., A.R.C., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France Monory catalogue 1968-1971, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, Belgien 1969 Galleria II Punto, Turin, Italia Studio d'Arte Condoti 85, Rome, Italia Galleria Forni, Bologne, Italia 1968 Meurtres, Gallery B. Mommaton, Paris, France 1967 Gallery B. Mommanton, Paris , France Galleria II Punto, Turin, Italia 1966 Gallery Schwarz, Milan, Italia 1965 Gallery H. Legendre, Paris, France 1959 Gallery La Hune, Paris, France 1958 Gallery l'entracte, Lausanne, Switzerland 1955 Gallery Kléber, Paris, France