Jean-Claude Fourneau
| Jean-Claude Fourneau | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Born |
28 March 1907 Paris (France) |
| Died | 9 October 1981 (aged 74) Paris (France) |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Painting, drawing |
| Notable work | Portraits of: Felix Yusupov, Général Catroux, Jean Paulhan, Dominique Aury, Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing, etc. |
| Movement | Surrealism |
| Website | jcfourneau.com |
Jean-Claude Fourneau (28 March 1907 – 9 October 1981) was a French painter close to the surrealist movement.
His mother was a descendant of Victor de Lanneau, restorer of the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris, of Juliette Adam, founder of a French paper, La Nouvelle Revue, muse of Léon Gambetta and the spiritual mother of Pierre Loti; and she was the daughter of Paul Segond, pioneer in the field of surgical gynaecology.
His father, Ernest Fourneau, was the founder of French medicinal chemistry.
Draughtsman and painter imbued with classicism and surrealism, Jean-Claude Fourneau is first noticed at his show at the Jeanne Castel Gallery by André Salmon in 1932. He continued exhibiting there until 1948.
Claude Roger-Marx sees his use of drawing as a medium and appreciates their detail: "The detail in Jean-Claude Fourneau's drawings gives us a sense of the infinite (...) Fascinating in the power and sensitivity that every stroke of his brush conveys." For the literary character of his work, the critic quotes the artist himself: "I cannot conceive of a man painting who has no culture. I do not distinguish between painting and poetry, they both strive towards the same goal."
Fourneau then specialises in portraits and builds himself a solid reputation. Oriane de La Panouse, the countess of Paris, the Harcourt, Brantes, Faucigny-Lucinge, Seillière, Broglie, Pourtalès, Maillé, Montesquiou, Wendel families figure amongst his clients.
An intimate circle of people support his work leading François Pluchart to state in the review Combat during the André Weil Gallery show in 1963: "The Parisian fashion and intellectual circle has found its painter". During the year of 1961, he interprets the role of the bishop Cauchon in Robert Bresson's The Trial of Joan of Arc.
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