JEAN DEGOTTEX
BIOGRAPHY
Jean Degottex was a French painter born in 1918 in Sathonay-Camp and who died in 1988 in Paris. A leading figure in lyrical abstraction in France, he established himself in the 1950s with paintings that emphasized the mark and the impulse of the gesture.
Inspired by the masters of Far Eastern calligraphy and steeped in Zen philosophy, his art combines discipline with gestural immediacy. André Breton, whom he met in 1954, saw in these works a possible pictorial illustration of the principle of “automatic writing.” He noted his spontaneous affinity with wash painting and Chinese as well as Japanese scripts.
“I would like my painting to be a deeper breath,” said the artist. Indeed, in these paintings, everything is a matter of breath: the vaporization and concentration of the self into a single gesture, so that the viewer experiences the sensation that here, painting is life.
Jean Degottex’s works are part of numerous public collections, notably those of the Unterlinden Museum, the Cantini Museum, the National Library of France, the Centre Georges-Pompidou, the National Fund for Contemporary Art, the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, the Maeght Foundation in Toulon, the MUMOK (Vienna), the Gutaï Art Museum (Osaka), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (United States), and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (United States). A room has been dedicated to him since June 2024 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
EXHIBITIONS
2026
- The gallery celebrates its 40th anniversary. Carte blanche to Pierre Wat, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
- BRAFA 2026, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Brussels, Belgium
2024
- Room Jean Degottex, permanent collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
2023
- The Shape of Freedom, Munchmuseet, Oslo, Norway
- Painting the Essential: Surrealism and the East, West Bund Museum, Shangai, China
2022
- The Shape of Freedom, Museum Barberini, Postdam, Germany
- Au cœur de l’abstraction, Collection de la Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence
- Surrealism Beyond Borders, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
2021
- Surrealism Beyond Borders, The Met, New York, United States
2019
- Art Paris Art Fair 2019: Virtual tour of the stand
2015
- Je voudrais que ma peinture soit une plus grande respiration, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2014
- FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon, France
2013
- Galerie Bernard Bouche, Paris, France
- Vide-matière, Galerie Jacques Lévy, Paris, France
- Jean Degottex, Du signe à l'écriture, de l'écriture à la ligne, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2011
- Galerie Pascal Lainé, Ménerbes, France
- Jean Degottex exhibition, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2009
- Musée du monastère royal de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse, France
- Museum of Fine Arts, Evreux, France
2008
- Jean Degottex, Museum of Fine Arts, Quimper, France
2007
- Degottex. 58-85, Art Paris, Galerie l'Or du Temps, Paris, France
2006
- Chine Occident ou l'aventure du signe, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2005
- Degottex 73-86, Carré Saint Vincent, Orléans, France
2003
- Œuvres.78-83, Maison de la Culture, Bourges, France
2000
- La révolution continue, Frac Bourgogne, Dijon, France
1998
- La peinture après l'Abstraction. 1955-1975. Martin Barré, Jean Degottex, Raymond Hains, Simon Hantaï, Jacques Villeglé, Musée d'Art moderne de Paris, France
1997
- Reports, Galerie Regard, Paris, France
- Degottex, Espace Fortant, Sète, France
1996
- Médias, Galerie Rabouan-Moussion, Paris, France
- A Quest for Absolute Void, Arts Center, Hong Kong
1993
- Papiers-Reports, Galerie Sablon, Paris, France
1992
- Signes et Métasignes, Carré d'Art, Nîmes, France
1990
- Reports 77-81, Galerie de France, Paris, France
1988
- Repères 1955-1985, Galerie de France, Paris, France
- Evreux Museum & Brou Museum, Bourg-en Bresse, France
1983
- Degottex, Galerie de France, Paris, France
1979
- Abbaye de Sénanque, Gordes, France
1978
- Abstraction analytique, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
1976
- Suite, Médias, Galerie Germain, Paris, France
1972
- Les déchirures, Galerie Germain, Paris, France
1970
- Horspaces Degottex-Daladier, ARC Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, France
1967
- Horsphères, Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France
1964
- L’écriture du peintre : Degottex, Georges, Giacometti, Hantaï, Hartung, Mathieu, Michaux, Sonderborg, Tobey, Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France
1961
- Seven Metasigns on the Flower, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
1960
- Les Alliances, Helios Art, Brussels ; San Stephan Gallery, Vienna
1959
- Les Dix-huit vides, Galerie internationale d'Art Contemporain, Paris, France
1956
- Galerie Kléber, Paris, France
1955
- Galerie à l’Étoile Scellée, Paris, France
1950
- Galerie de Beaune, Paris, France
1949
- Sept peintres, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
EDITION
Jean Degottex, du signe à l’écriture, de l’écriture à la ligne
Préface de Pierre Wat
Ed. Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, 2013
64 pages, 84 illustrations couleurs
Dimensions: 27 x 22 cm
N° ISBN: 978-2-9529757-6-6
Prix de vente: 30 €