Les Fusées, April 3, 1978
Ink and gouache on paper
15 1/4 x 23 in.
(38.74 x 58.42 cm)
Signed and dated lower left recto
Le Feu d'artifice, May 1, 1978
Ink and gouache on paper
22 5/8 x 15 1/8 in. (57.47 x 38.42 cm)
Signed and dated lower left recto
Le grand lustre, March 30, 1978
Ink and gouache on paper
22 3/4 x 15 1/2 in. (57.79 x 39.37 cm)
Signed and dated lower right recto
Le voyage d'Arachné, March 29, 1978
Ink and gouache on paper
22 3/4 x 15 1/2 in. (57.79 x 39.37 cm)
Signed bottom left recto
Les Archéologues, June 4, 1978
Ink and gouache on paper
22 3/4 x 15 1/4 in. (57.79 x 38.74 cm)
Signed and dated lower left recto
Le bain endormi, July 21, 1978
Oil, gouache and pencil on paper
15 1/4 x 22 3/4 in. (38.74 x 57.79 cm)
Signed and dated lower left recto
Le Pare-Brise, 1980
Ink and gouache on paper
22 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (57.15 x 39.37 cm)
Signed and dated lower left recto
Sommeil captif, January 9, 1980
Ink and gouache on paper
15 x 22 in. (38.1 x 58.88 cm)
Signed and dated lower right recto
Formes fragiles (2), 1982
Ink and gouache on paper
22 7/8 x 15 1/2 in. (58.1 x 39.4 cm)
Signed and dated lower right recto
La place forte, 1982
Oil, gouache, ink and pencil on paper
22 3/4 x 15 1/2 in. (57.8 x 39.4 cm)
Signed lower left recto
Vestige du future, 1982
Oil, gouache, ink and pencil on paper
15 1/4 x 22 3/4 in. (38.7 x 57.8 cm)
Signed adn dated lower right recto
Au fond de l'ombre, 1982
Oil, gouache, ink and pencil on paper
22 1/2 x 15 1/4 in. (57.2 x 38.7 cm)
La forêt profonde, 1982
Oil, gouache, ink and pencil on paper
15 1/4 x 23 1.8 in.
Signed loewr right recto
Le Pays Masqué, 1982
Oil, gouache and pencil on paper
15 1/4 x 22 1/2 in. (38.7 x 57.2 cm)
Signed upper left recto
Untitled, 1964
Indian ink, gouache and flottage on masonite
9 1/4 x 7 3/4 in. (23.5 x 19.7 cm)
Signed and dated lower right recto and verso
Les Balises, 1970
Gouache and flottage on masonite
9 1/2 x 10 1.2 in. (24.13 x 26.67 cm)
Signed and dated lower left recto; titled on verso
Les Guetteurs, 1970
Gouache and flottage on masonite
8 x 9 3/4 in. (20.32 x 24.76 cm)
Signed and dated lower left recto
Balancce de brumes, 1972
Gouache on masonite
6 x 10 1/2 in. (15.24 x 26.67 cm)
Signed lower left recto; dated verso
Satellites, 1972
Gouache and flottage on masonite
6 x 10 1/2 in. (15.24 x 26.67 cm)
Signed upper left recto
La Prison transparente, 1972-74
Gouache on masonite
6 x 10 1.2 in. (15.24 x 26.67 cm)
Signed lower left recto; signed and titled verso
Le Messager, 1973
Gouache and flottage on masonite
8 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (21.59 x 19.05 cm)
Signed and dated upper right recto; titled and dated verso
Ludions, 1973
Gouache and flottage on masonite
10 1.4 x 8 1/2 in. (26.03 x 21.59 cm)
Signed and dated upper left recto
Recifs et épaves, 1973
Gouache and flottage on masonite
8 x 6 1/2 in. ( 20.32 x 16.51 cm)
Signed upper left recot; titled verso
Objects, flamme, cristal et pierres, 1973
Gouache and flottage on masonite
6 x 9 in.
(15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Coq d'or, 1974
Gouache on masonite
9 x 7 1/2 in.
(22.86 x 19.05 cm.)
Signed upper left recto
Feux Masqués, 1975
Indian ink and gouache on masonite
10 1/2 x 6 in. (26.67 x 15.24 cm)
Signed upper right recto
L'Oiseau Pascuan, 1975
Gouache on masonite
11 x 7 in. (27.94 x 17.78 cm)
Signed lower left recto
Chantepleure, 1975
Gouache and flottage on masonite
6 1/2 x 10 1.2 in. (16.51 x 26.67 cm)
Titled and signed on lower right recto
Jeux stellaires, 1975
Gouache and flottage on masonite
7 x 12 3.4 in. (17.78 x 32.38 cm)
Signed lower right recto
L'Anti-Chambre, 1976
Gouache and flottage on masonite
10 1.2 x 6 1/2 in. (26.67 x 16.51 cm)
Signed lower left recto
The Elkon Gallery, Inc., in association with Timothy Baum, is pleased to present The Secret World of Marcel Jean -- the first one person exhibition of this Parisian artist’s work to be seen in America since 1985.
This exhibition is comprised of two separate bodies of work: a series of ink, gouache and watercolor images on paper from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, and a group of smaller mixed media paintings, incorporating the artist’s self-invented technique described by him as flottage and rendered on masonite, dating from the earlier 1970’s.
Marcel Jean, born, as a surprisingly large number of important 20th Century artists in the seminal year of 1900, joined the Surrealist group of Paris in 1932, and except for the years between 1938 and 1944 when he worked and taught in Budapest (choosing to remain there until the war’s end instead of returning to German-occupied Paris), lived his entire adult life in Paris, until his death in 1994.
Jean was an active member of the Surrealist group throughout several decades, and exhibited in all of the major International Surrealism exhibitions (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Brussels, London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Amsterdam) and subsequently in most of the important post-war Surrealism exhibitions, in addition to a succession of one-person shows, worldwide.
Besides being a painter and maker of objects (his most famous being the enigmatic Spectre du gardenia, on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York), Monsieur Jean was also a skilled and prolific writer, and among his achievements is the book considered by many to be the most important study of Surrealism ever written, The History of Surrealist Painting (Paris, 1959; New York, Grove Press, 1960).
