Jean-Michel Folon (1934-2005) Belgian/French, Large Everyman in Glasses Print. Created in 1980. Depicts Folon's beloved blue Everyman character, a downtrodden and bundled up man who occasionally can fly. He appears in a vast blue landscape reflected in a pair of circular glasses. Reads "Folon Editions Lahumiere 88 Boulevard de Courcelles Paris Telephone 924 03 95."
Condition: Water damage in lower right corner. Spots throughout.
Overall Size: 32 1/4 x 48 1/4 in.
Sight Size: 23 1/4 x 40 1/4 in.
#3 #4062 .
Jean-Michel Folon was born on March 1st, 1934 in Uccle, Brussels. He drew obsessively from the age of six, and studied architecture at the Institut Saint-Luc, settling in Paris as his base of operations in 1955. The first exhibition of his watercolors was in New York in 1969 in the Lefebre Gallery. One year later he exhibited in Tokyo and in the Il Milione gallery in Milan. He is perhaps best known in America under the name Émile Ajar, a pseudonym he created to publish his drawings in newspapers and illustrations for books by Franz Kafka, Ray Bradbury, Jorge Luis Borges, Guy de Maupassant, Albert Camus, Aldous Huxley, and Ralph Ellison, among others. His unique minimalist style, well-suited for philosophical, science fiction, and avant-garde literature, captivated readers for generations. In 1973 he joined the selection of Belgian artists in the 25th São Paulo Biennale, where he won the Grand Prize in Painting. Over the years he began to experiment with many different mediums and techniques, including etching, silkscreen, illustrations, mosaics, and stained glass. He made murals in Brussels and London, as well as numerous posters, often for films, operas, and humanitarian causes. In 1985 he moved to Monaco after the tragic death of his handicapped daughter Catherine and his divorce from his first wife, Colette; this remained his main home for the rest of his life. Around 1988 he created his first sculptures made out of wood, then quickly moved on to explore sculptures in clay, plaster, bronze and marble, while continuing to paint. Several museums have dedicated exhibitions to him, among them the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1971, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam in 1976, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1977, the Musée Picasso in Antibes in 1984, the Museo Correr in Venice in 1986, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires in 1987, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1990. In 2000 he opened the Fondation Folon to sell reproductions of his work, and in 2001 the city of Lisbon held a large retrospective of his sculptures in the Castelo de São Jorge. It was here that he met and married his second wife, Paolina. French President Jacques Chirac awarded him the Legion of Honour in the Palais d’Elysée in 2002. In 2004 he became a UNICEF ambassador, although ill health forced him to curtail his humanitarian efforts, and he passed away in 2005. In his life he explored nearly every known visual medium, and his work is on permanent display in museums around the world.
Condition
Water damage in lower right corner. Spots throughout.
