Jean Messagier

Jean Messagier ( born July 13, 1920 in Paris, France, † September 10, 1999 in Montbéliard ) was a French painter, printmaker and draftsman.

Life and work

Jean Messagier studied at the École nationale supérieure des arts Décoratifs de Paris. He undertook numerous study trips to Italy and Algeria to complete his artistic education.

His first solo exhibition was held at the Chateau de Montbéliard in 1943. His art was influenced by the work of Paul Klee and by its contact with the art critic Charles Estienne, which convinced him of it in his art away from the geometric abstraction to a freer and more lyrical visual expression to develop. Messagier used more like lighter colors near transparency and opted for a broad, spontaneous style of painting. His landscape paintings show a strong sensitivity to nature and the rhythm of the seasons. After 1948 Messagier freed from his post- Cubist past and developed its own new expression that a new gestural definition of space achieved in the 1960s, full of colorful and dynamic movement. He was known for his smooth brushwork and took after 1968 also aspects of American pop art in his work on.

After 1960 Messa Gier art got international attention. He took part in some of the most important international events in part as a representative of the new trends in French painting. In 1964 he took part in documenta III in Kassel. Messa Gier works are part of important international museums, including Rio de Janeiro, Paris, New York, Brussels, Geneva, Jerusalem, Nagaoka, Cincinnati and Mexico City.

Literature and sources

• Documenta III. International Exhibition; Catalogue: Volume 1: Paintings and Sculpture; Volume 2: Hand drawings; Volume 3: Industrial design, graphic; Kassel / Cologne 1964