Jean Messagier VA (Broché)

All the sexes of Spring

Messagier, the almost American abstract painter, never abandoned the figure or figuration, and took the liberty, from the 1970's, of conjuring up images drawn from popular culture, such as Goldorak, Marsupilami, Betty Boop, glamour figures like Lady Di or Greta Garbo, of shaking up the Masters by citing Delacroix, Matisse, Picasso... with a total irreverence. These years of the 1970's and 80's saw a juxtaposition of the jovial triviality of fried eggs, radishes, of giant mille-feuilles and the poetry of the poppies, the daisies and gels, and monotypes with direct printing of leaves or lace... Concerned with being contemporary with his time, Messagier will always be so, and his work, if we embrace it as far as possible in its entirety, conveys both his signature and the spirit of his time. After the unbridled experimentations of the 1970's and 80's, the turning point of 1988 to 1990 would be that of a new more concentrated touch, a form of synthesis where the large brush strokes and the rich and invigorating colours condensed in effect the full energy of the artist.

This work is not exactly an exhibition catalogue but more a book which accompanies and attempts to show the work in all its diversity, bringing together productions from the 1940's up to the 1990's, allowing paintings, sculptures, gels and engravings to co-exist, like so many « pathways with trails that branch off ».