Jean Toche

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Jean Toche ( pseudonym ; born August 15, 1932 in Bruges , Belgium as Jean Xavier Van Imschoot ; † July 9, 2018 in Staten Island , New York , USA ) was a Belgian-American artist and poet . At the beginning of his career he worked as a jazz musician and abstract expressionist painter. He later made friends with the political artists Marcel Broodthaers and Al Hansen .

Life

Family, childhood and youth

Jean Toche was born on August 15, 1932 as Jean Xavier Rene Octave Marie Ghislan Van Imschoot in Bruges, Belgium. In 1950 he began studying medicine and law at the University of Brussels ; in 1954 he graduated from the University of London with a degree in English literature . In 1959 he married the American ballet dancer Virginia Poe.

In 1960 the gallery Le Zodiaque in Brussels showed works by Toche with abstract painting in a solo exhibition . From 1964 he studied political science at the Sorbonne in Paris . The following year he met Marcel Broodthaers . In 1965 he and his wife moved to New York City , where he met Al Hansen .

In 1966 Toche was supposed to take part in the illustrious Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS) by Gustav Metzger in London to discuss the topic of "Destruction in Art". After the chaos surrounding Robin Page's performance “Krow I” on the eve of the symposium , he withdrew.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Toche became known in New York for political art campaigns against the Vietnam War , racism and censorship . He criticized the Iraq war and its consequences, but also the security and social policy of the United States. He was a member of the Artist Workers' Coalition .

Guerrilla Art Action Group (1969-1976)

In October 1969, together with his colleagues Jon Hendricks (* 1939 in Evanston , USA) and Poppy Johnson , Toche founded the Guerrilla Art Action Group (GAAG), which operated radical political action art. The artists wanted to act against the rigidity of art institutions, especially the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York. As the Rockefeller family was on the one hand represented on the museum's board of directors and, on the other hand, profited from the arms industry of the Vietnam War, the Guerrilla Art Action Group saw the established art and cultural institutions as "part of the power structure that brought us the war , the inequality of the sexes, Race and so on in this land, from rich to poor ”. With public actions, theater and performances they tried to hide behind symbolic actions and to reach an audience beyond the art scene. To this day, his actions influence movements like the occupation movement worldwide.

The artists carried out numerous campaigns until 1976: in 1970 they burned two American flags sewn into a sack and filled with bones . Toche's attacks on the policies of the Bush administration were offensive and aggressive , but also humorous .

Toche came into conflict with the judiciary several times. In 1970 he was, Jon Hendricks and the African-American artist Faith Ringgold because "Flaggenentweihung" in American Flag show in the Judson Memorial Church in the district of Greenwich Village of New York district of Manhattan arrested. They were sentenced to a fine of US $ 100 each or 30 days in prison. Yoko Ono and John Lennon also campaigned for the release of the "Judson Three" .

In March 1974 Toche was arrested by the FBI because he had criticized the police with some works in American museums. As a result of his imprisonment, over three hundred artists signed a petition for his release.

On December 13, 1976 the group broke up.

From 1976, death

Due to illness, Toche took a long break from art production. In 1997 he became a citizen of the United States . When his wife died of cancer in 2000 , he returned to the arts. From 2000 to 2014, Toche Mail Art . He sent out statements and political comments in agitpropmanier manner only committed to his convictions. His Mail Art has been included in the archive of the Academy of Arts in Berlin .

In 2014 Jean Toche fell silent artistically. He considered the art world to be opportunistic and distanced himself from it. For him, the function of the art space was to make his positions public. You couldn't buy a work from him or win him over to a new edition of an existing work.

On July 9, 2018, Jean Toche was found dead at his home on Staten Island, New York, where he lived and worked, at the age of 85.

literature

  • Paris Guidorama by Michel Bagot; Jean Toche, French , Nancy : Berger-Levrault , 1975.
  • Pratique de la signalisation d'interprétation by Jean-Pierre Bringer; Jean Toche; Michelle Sabatier; Emmanuel Coudel, French, Montpellier : Atelier technique des espaces culturels, 1996.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean Toche | Memo | NO! Art involvement. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  2. ↑ UNITED STATES v. VAN IMSC | 390 F.Supp. 994 (1974) | upp99411229 | Leagle.com. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Jean Toche died on July 9, 2018. Accessed December 29, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Sebastian Carlens: Insert another coin! July 17, 2018, accessed December 29, 2018 .
  6. ↑ United States of America -v- Jean Xavier Van Imschoot, Or Jean Toche ... - Google Books. In: books.google.com. Retrieved March 30, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b Weserburg: Jean Toche. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  8. ↑ W◼A◼G◼E◼. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  9. ^ A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes . Routledge, 2013, ISBN 978-1-136-80619-3 .
  10. ^ Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Hendricks, Jon. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  12. ^ Revolutionary Instances and Activism in Art Practices at the turn of the 60s and 70s. Two cases compared: Hi Red Center and Guerilla Art Action Group | LuxFlux. Retrieved December 29, 2018 (American English).
  13. ↑ Guerrilla Art Action Group | InEnArt. Retrieved December 29, 2018 (American English).
  14. ↑ Textile Art - Flying Quilts. Retrieved September 1, 2019 .
  15. ^ Jean Toche: Burn Baby Burn, Show 2006. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  16. ↑ a b Jean Toche | Bibliography. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Toche, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES van Imschoot, Jean Xavier Rene Octave Marie Ghislan (birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian-American artist and poet
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Bruges , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 2018
Place of death Staten Island , New York , United States