Jean-Michel Coulon
Jean-Michel Coulon (born October 10, 1920 in Bordeaux , † October 25, 2014 in Paris ) was a French painter from the École de Paris , who had the peculiarity of keeping his work, which includes more than 600 paintings, almost a secret. Exhibitions of his work took place in Paris in 1949 and 1950 in the Galerie Jeanne Bucher and in 1971 in Brussels. He was well known in the artistic movement of the 1940s and 1950s and associated with Nicolas de Staël , Serge Poliakoff , André Lanskoy , Maria Helena Vieira da Silva , Picasso, and especially his brother-in-law Olivier Debré . Then he increasingly isolated himself to the point where he rarely mentioned his painting.
biography
1930s: Attendance at Janson-de-Sailly-Gymnasium , then preparatory class for the elite-Gymnasium Henri-IV . In his youth he made many trips: first to Germany, where he learned the language and returned with a native speaker level, after graduating from high school with his friend and later brother-in-law Olivier Debré to Italy, and along the African Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts as a free passenger on board merchant ships. He witnessed the rise of fascist ideology: he saw Hitler in Berlin and later Mussolini in Rome.
1943: When the Vichy regime introduced forced labor in 1943, he decided to leave Paris and obtained a false identity card. He fled to Megève with Olivier Debré . During this time the two friends decide to devote themselves to painting.
1944: Jean-Rémi Coulon, the brother of Jean-Michel, a student in a preparatory class for an elite university at the Janson-de-Sailly high school, was executed by the Germans at the age of 19 on the By farm in the Loiret department.
1945: Start of regular exhibitions as part of so-called art salons (Réalités Nouvelles, Salon de Mai).
1949: Meeting his future wife, Caroline Garabedian, an American violinist who has come to Paris to study at the Conservatory. He is learning English quickly. He is exhibiting his works in a joint exhibition with Braque, Picasso, Klee, Lurçat, Laurens, Nicolas de Staël, André Lanskoy, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Reichel, Bauchant, Manessier, Chapoval, Déchelette, Szenes and Kandinsky in the Jeanne-Bucher Gallery in Paris.
1950: Solo exhibition in the Jeanne Bucher Gallery. The exhibition's guest book shows that many now famous painters, including Rothko, Lanskoy, Deyrolle, Arnal, Vieillard, Szenes and Vieira da Silva, visited the exhibition. He exhibits his works as part of a joint exhibition by the New York artist group "Young Painters from US and France", which includes Nicolas de Staël and Pierre Soulages, in the Sidney Janis Gallery. Thanks to a grant from the French government, he spent three months at the Maison Descartes in Amsterdam. He familiarizes himself with the classic Dutch painters and is learning Dutch.
1952: His second brother, Jean-François, an officer in the Air Force, dies at the age of 25 in a foggy plane crash while on a mission in Tunisia.
1953: Marriage to Caroline Garabedian.
1955: A fire destroys his house and his studio in Saint-Jean de Braye , near Orléans. A large number of images are destroyed.
1956: He spends two months in the USA and discovers the big metropolises there, including New York, a city that fascinates him. This trip is the first to be an important source of inspiration for his painting. Many more follow.
1957: birth of his only daughter.
1968: After France left the integrated military structure of NATO, he moved to Brussels with his wife, who works at the headquarters of the organization. They stay there until 1998. From Brussels the family goes on cultural and artistic journeys of discovery to all European countries by car. Jean-Michel Coulon tirelessly visits churches, museums, exhibitions, castles and ruins.
1971: His exhibition at the Régence-Galerie in Brussels, organized by gallery owner Michel Vockaer, is a great success. Eighteen paintings are sold. A series of three exhibitions was originally planned, but only the first took place: Jean-Michel Coulon pretends to be never ready for more pictures.
1999: he returns to Paris and settles near Honoré de Balzac's house. He contacts the Parisian gallery owners again. He behaves cautiously, almost mysteriously. Every afternoon he goes to his studio and orientates himself towards collage in his work as a painter. He makes these on old pictures from the 50s and 60s.
2012: He has health problems and is doomed to a life in a wheelchair after a long hospital stay. This condition makes it impossible for him to go to his studio as it is inaccessible in a wheelchair. It remains untouched until his death. He makes his collages in his apartment on Canson paper . He keeps his sparkling, sharp mind and works until shortly before his death, true to his line with iridescent colors.
2014: Jean-Michel Coulon dies on October 25th at the age of 94 in Paris. It rests in Saint-Georges-de-Didonne , the family seat in the Charente-Maritime department.
bibliography
- Lydia Harambourg , Jean-Michel Coulon , (Gourcuff-Gradenigo, 2018)
- Paul Baquiast: Une dynastie de la bourgeoisie républicaine, les Pelletan (L'Harmattan, 1996)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Galerie Jeanne Bucher Galerie Jeanne Bucher
- ↑ UNE DYNASTIE DE LA BOURGEOISIE RÉPUBLICAINE: LES PELLETAN, Paul Baquiast - livre, ebook, epub. Retrieved November 14, 2018 (French).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Coulon, Jean-Michel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 10, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bordeaux |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 25, 2014 |
| Place of death | Paris |