Jacques Monory was a French painter and filmmaker whose work, highly influenced by photography and cinema, is an allegory of the contemporary world with a focus on the violence of everyday reality. His canvases evoke a heavy atmosphere, pulling subject matter from modern civilization through the lens of his signature monochrome colorblue.
Exhibitions
Monory's work was exhibited trom 12 January to 23 February 2018 at the in New York City. The New York Times featured the show in an article titled . Martha Schwendener wrote, "Mr. Monory’s canvases can be easily compared to the work of ’80s American postmodern painters like David Salle, Jack Goldstein, Troy Brauntuch and Eric Fischl, but he has a soft spot for older figurative artists, too, like Edward Hopper. “Spéciale n°54 Hommage à Hopper” features a house with a nearby road sign for the Hopper Center — although no such institution exists, except in this painting, which functions, as does most of Mr. Monory’s work, like a movie screen where fantastical drama and action are routinely played out.".
Work
Monory was first exhibited at the Drouant-David Gallery in Paris in 1952. During the 1960s, he became one of the leading figures of the European movement of , called :fr:Figuration narrative|Narrative Figuration by the art critic :fr:Gérald Gassiot-Talabot|Gérald Gassiot-Talabot. Monory would say: “What has developed in France has moved away from American Pop Art, we have expressed a critical narrative of society while the Americans have almost always, in my opinion, embraced their system. This is a fundamental difference.” In 1968, he directed the influential film and painted the series , putting in place the elements that would characterize his work: the division into sequences, the distancing by the use of the blue color, the dream, the illusion, but also a critical look at society. In 1971, Pierre Gaudibert curated a solo exhibition, Monory Catalogue 1968- 1971 at the of Paris which heightened his visibility, making him instantly recognizable. Two trips to the United States in 1969 and 1973 were vitally important to his personal and artistic history; it constitutes, from photos, a repertory of forms, images, and notebooks of models. In 1974, he joined the legendary gallery of , where he would exhibit, including his Operas Glacés. In 1986, he exhibited at the , and in 1992, he was the featured artist of the French Pavilion at the World Expo in Seville. In 2005, his work inaugurated the MACVAL in France with Detour, a large spiral installation of his paintings. In 2008, Monory was highlighted in the retrospective exhibition :fr:Figuration narrative|Figuration Narrative, at the in Paris. In 2015, a solo retrospective, Jacques Monory, took place at the in Landerneau, France. His work is included in the permanent collections of , Paris, France; , Paris, France; , Geneva, Switzerland; , Fukoka, Japan; the , Saint-Paul de Vence, France; , Havana Cuba; , Seoul, South Korea; , Cologne, Germany; , Santiago, Chili; , Amsterdam, Holland; and the , Lisbon, Portugal.
