BIOGRAPHY
Georges Noël was born in Béziers in 1924 and died in Paris on 26 November 2010.
He studied engineering and painting. He worked for several years as a designer in an aeronautical company. During the war, he joined the Resistance and became head of a network between France and Spain. He moved to Paris in 1956 and devoted himself entirely to painting. He rented a studio in Rue de Vaugirard and discovered the work of Paul Klee, Lucio Fontana, Jean Dubuffet and Jackson Pollock.
Georges Noël was later inspired by the photographic shots of graffiti taken by his photographer friend Brassaï, and developed an engraving technique. In the early 60s, he created a mixture of polyvinyl acetate (a white glue that is very resistant when dry), sand, flint and pigments. This mixture, combined with his engraving technique, will come to characterise his style.
These successive layers of material, these writings and rewritings, reminded Georges Noël of the medieval technique of the palimpsest : a parchment that had already been used, the inscriptions of which were made to disappear in order to write on it again. He entitled several of his works with this name in the first part of the 60s.
His first trip to the United States introduced him to abstract expressionism and American minimalism, two trends that will stimulate Georges Noël throughout his life.
He moved to the United States in 1968.
Returning to France in 1983, he held an exhibition at the Abbaye de Senanque. In 1985, a retrospective took place at the Centre national des arts plastiques in Paris. His pictorial development reflects a synthesis between the gestural style of his early work and an underlying structure developed during his American period. From then on, he exhibited regularly in Italy, Germany and Japan, where his work was particularly appreciated.
In 2015, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris devoted an exhibition to him, following a major purchase and a donation.
EXHIBITIONS
2023
- Georges Noël, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2022
- La magie du signe, Galerie Dutko, Paris, France
2021
- L’espace des signes, Raum III, Strategy Studios, with Georg Nothelfer Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- All that is solid, Georg Nothelfer Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2020
- Georges Noël, Galerie Pierre Hallet, Bruxelles, Belgium
- Encountering: Georges Noël, Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy
2019
- A Touch With the Eye, Dominik Mueller Gallery, Bâle, Switzerland
2017
- A weird encounter, Galerie Pierre Hallet, Bruxelles, Belgium
2015
- La Traversée des signes, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
2013
- Période Américaine. 1969 - 1983, Galerie Thessa Herold, Paris, France
2012
- Pochoirs et Collages, Galerie Catherine Putman, Paris, France
2010
- Sept grands formats 1987 - 1997, Galerie Thessa Herold, Paris, France
2008
- Chemins d’approche, œuvres de 1959 à 2007, Galerie Thessa Herold, Paris, France
- Œuvres 1957 - 2007 (50 anni di pittura), Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy
- Palimpsestes, Oeuvres sur Papier, 1960 - 1990, Galerie Catherine Putman, Paris, France
2007
- Georges Noël, Granville Gallery, Granville, France
- L’écriture du geste, Scriptorial d’Avranches, Avranches, France
2002
- Palimpsest, Haim Chanin Fine Arts, New York, USA
2000
- La nuit s’agite. Opere su carta, Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy
- Arbeiten von 1961 bis, Peter Zimmermann Gallery, Mannheim, Germany
1998
- Georges Noël, Friedrich Gallery, Köln, Germany
- Georges Noël, Base Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997
- Georges Noël, Friedrich Gallery, Cologne, Germany
- Neue Arbeiten, Georg Nothelfer Gallery, Berlin, Germany
1996
- De Porte Magique à Cosmogonie, Städtische, Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany
- Oeuvres récentes, Galerie Kiron, Paris, France
- Gemälde und Arbeiten auf Papier, Peter Zimmermann Gallery, Mannheim, Germany
1995
- Georges Noël, Artline, The Hague, Netherland
1994
- Georges Noël, Galeria Jorge Mara, Madrid, Spain
- Georges Noël, Institut Français, Freiburg, Germany
- Georges Noël, Rähnitzgasse Gallery, Dresde, Germany
- Georges Noël, École Nationale d’Art Décoratif, Aubusson, France
1993
- Zeichnungen. Grafik, Georg Nothelfer Bilder Gallery, Berlin, Germany
1992
- Georges Noël, Base Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Georges Noël, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Zhejiang, China
1991
- Georges Noël, Wild Gallery, Francfort, Germany
- Georges Noël, Base Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Georges Noël, Friedrich Gallery, Köln, Germany
- Georges Noël, Thamm & Sander Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
1990
- Georges Noël, Baumgarten Gallery, Art Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
- Peintures, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
- Paintings 1950 to 1970, Dennis Hotz Fine Art Ltd, Londres, United Kingdom
- Peintures 1958-1961, Galerie Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy
- New Paintings and Drawings, Arnold Herstand & Cie, New York, USA
1989
- Œuvres sur papier, Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy
- Georges Noël, Etage, Münster Gallery, Germany
- Arbeiten von 1958 - 1989, Georg Nothelfer Gallery, Berlin, Germany
1988
- Paintings & Drawings, Arnold Herstand & Cie, New York, USA
- Georges Noël, 1957 - 1988, Centro Culturale d’arte Bellora, Milan, Italy
1987
- Georges Noël, Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy
- Georges Noël: New York / Paris 10 ans d’activité 1976 - 1986, Galerie Municipale d’Art Contemporain, Saint-Priest, France
1986
- Georges Noël, Galerie Hervé Odermatt, FIAC 1986, Paris, France
1985
- 25 ans de Graphisme, Centre Culturel Méliès, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- Georges Noël, Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP), Paris, France
1984
- Tableaux Blancs, American Center, Paris, France
- Georges Noël, Lauter, Mannheim Gallery, Germany
- Georges Noël, Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy
- Georges Noël, Tomako Okasaki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Georges Noël, Galerie ABCD, FIAC 1984, Paris, France
1983
- Reliefs-Peintures 1982-1983, Centre International de Création Artistique, Abbaye de Sénanque, Gordes, France
1981
- Sculptures, Galerie de France, Paris, France
1980
- Gouaches et reliefs de Georges Noël 1958-1980, Lauter Gallery, Mannheim, Germany
1978
- Georges Noël, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, USA
- Georges Noël, Waddington Galleries, Londres, United Kingdom
- Recent Paintings, The Pace Gallery, New York, USA
- Collages, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, USA
1977
- Georges Noël, André Emmerich Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
- Georges Noël, Galerie Stevenson & Palluel, Paris, France
1976
- New Paintings, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, USA
- Peintures, Galerie Stevenson & Palluel, Paris, France
- Paintings and Drawings, André Emmerich Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
- Georges Noël, Galerie Paul Facchetti, FIAC 76,Paris, France
1975
- New Paintings, The Pace Gallery, New York, USA
1974
- Georges Noël (with André Derain), Harkus Krakow Rosen Sonnabend Gallery, Boston, USA
1970
- Georges Noël, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Zürich, Switzerland
- Georges Noël, The Pace Gallery, New York, USA
1969
- Exhibition of New Works (Paintings and Collages), The Martin Gallery, Minneapolis, USA
1968
- Batailles Navales, Scores, Computers, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
1967
- Dessins, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
- Georges Noël, Galleria Cadario, Rome, Italy
1965
- Georges Noël, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
- Georges Noël, Kulturhaus der Stadt, Ludwigshafen Rhein, Germany
- Nouveaux Réalistes, Margarete Lauter Gallery, Mannheim, Germany
- Georges Noël, Heseler Gallery, Munich, Germany
1964
- Georges Noël, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
- Recent paintings, John Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
1963
- Georges Noël, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
- Georges Noël, Werner und Katz Gallery, Berlin, Germany
1962
- First one man show in USA, Georges Noël Recent paintings, John Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
- Georges Noël, Niepel Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
1961
- Georges Noël, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italy
- Georges Noël, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
1960
- Georges Noël, John Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
- Georges Noël, Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
1953
- Georges Noël Bédard, Galerie Point du Jour, Paris, France
1951
- Peintures - Dessins, Galerie Saint-Placide, Paris, France