Flashcards on Jean Fautrier: Art Informel Pioneer
Jean Fautrier: Art Informel Pioneer & War's Impact on Art
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Jean Fautrier – Life and Work
50 cards
Card 1
Question: Who was Jean Fautrier and when did he live?
Answer: Jean Fautrier (1898–1964) was a French painter.
Card 2
Question: Why did Fautrier move away from Paris after 1929?
Answer: The move was economic: the 1929 stock market crash affected his financial situation, and his dealer, Paul Guillaume, terminated their contract, which
Card 3
Question: When did Fautrier return to Paris, and what did this mean for his work?
Answer: He returned to Paris in 1940 during World War II and began a new direction in painting, based on experimenting with materials and a semi-abstract styl
Card 4
Question: What materials and techniques did Fautrier prefer in the post-war period?
Answer: He mixed oil, watercolor, powders, and other available materials, seeking formulas that allowed him to work with various media.
Card 5
Question: How do the figures appear in his new, semi-abstract form?
Answer: Figures were reduced to battered, limbless shapes – rough, visceral, and irrational deformations.
Card 6
Question: What does the 'Otages' series mean, and when was it created?
Answer: The 'Otages' (Hostages) series was created between 1943–1945 during Fautrier's stay at the Vallée-aux-Loups psychiatric hospital, reflecting the suffe
Card 7
Question: What experiences inspired 'Otages'?
Answer: Fautrier was arrested as a suspected resistance member in January 1943, and from his room, he heard the executions of prisoners in a nearby forest, wh
Card 8
Question: What expressions and colors does Fautrier use in works like 'Tête d’Otage' or 'Otage' (1945)?
Answer: He uses bruise-like colors for the heads, and in the 1945 work, red and yellow stains suggest lesions and wounds.
Card 9
Question: How did Pierre Restany describe the 'Otages' series?
Answer: As an expression of 'anger, fear, hatred, powerlessness, tenderness, and human solidarity'.
Card 10
Question: What series followed 'Otages' and what was their expression?
Answer: A large-format series called 'Traps' followed, which expressed injury through cracked, scarred, and stucco-like surfaces.