Jacques GERMAIN (1915-2001)

Lot 182 - Jacques GERMAIN (1915-2001)
French painter
Untitled
Acrylic on paper, signed with the artist's initials in the lower right corner. Framed under glass.
Period XXth century
Dimensions at sight: H: 41; W: 32 cm

Jacques Germain was born in Paris in 1915. He began his artistic training at the Académie Moderne directed by Amédée Ozenfant and Fernand Léger. The latter, noting Jacques Germain's potential, advised his parents to continue his studies at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany. He spent a year there and had Vassily Kandinsky as a teacher. In October 1932, he attended the classes of the constructivist painter Willi Baumeister in Frankfurt.
Around 1935, forced by the arrival of the Nazis in power, Jacques Germain returned to Paris and began a career in advertising design. However, the war broke out a few years later and the artist was taken prisoner and remained in captivity for three years.
Upon his return to France, he decided to devote himself primarily to painting.

In 1948, he was already part of the avant-garde, exhibiting with Jean Arp, Camille Bryen, Jean Fautrier, Georges Mathieu, Francis Picabia, Hans Hartung, Otto Wols and Antoni Tàpies in the exhibition entitled "Blanc et Noir" at the Galerie des Deux Îles in Paris.
In 1949 he had his first solo exhibition in Paris. In the same year, he exhibited with Pierre Soulages at the Atelier de Maywald. In 1951, he exhibited at the same place with Sonia Delaunay, Vassily Kandinsky, Pierre Soulages, Alberto Magnelli, Hans Hartung.

Strengthened by these experiences and his reputation as a non-figurative painter, Jacques Germain obtained numerous personal exhibitions in different galleries: Maeght, Michel Warren, André Schoeller, Jacques Massol, Arnoux, Barbier-Beltz, Pierre Loeb, Dina Vierny and Kriegel.
Today his art is represented in several museums, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, as well as the Musée des beaux-arts de Lille, Bremen, Bergen, Lausanne and Oslo.