JEAN DEWASNE
​
Born in 1921, Lille, France.
Died in 1999, Paris, France.
Like Fernand Léger, Jean Dewasne celebrates the modern world through a work with many facets. He was a pioneer in the use of industrial materials, supports and mechanized processes for painting. His fascination with the raw and functional forms of industrial production is reflected in his style, which finally took hold in the early 1950s: an abstraction with geometric flat areas in bright colors. This fascination also drives him to use elements of automobile or motorcycle bodies to shape his brightly colored antisculptures. After a first retrospective at the Kunsthalle in Berne in 1966, he represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1968. It was also at this time that he designed gigantic murals, notably for the Olympic Games in Grenoble and for the Grande Arche de la Défense. He never stopped theorizing and teaching his artistic practice through publications and conferences.
Works Available:
SOLO SHOWS (SELECTION)
2015
Jean Dewasne, LAAC, Dunkerque, France
2014
Jean Dewasne, Vers une peinture plane, Musée de Cambrai, France
Jean Dewasne, la couleur construite : de l’Antisculpture à l’architecture, Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
2013
Antisculptures, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France
2010
Messmer Foundation, Riegel, Allemagne
2009
Stattgalerie Klagenfurt, Autriche
1991
Antisculptures and the tapestry Cœur Cinabre (woven by the Manufacture d’État des Gobelins between 1977 and 1980 for the Mobilier National), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Libourne, France
Jean Dewasne, Musée Josef Albers, Bottrop, Germany
1987
Dewasne, Galerie de la Prévôté, Festival de Musique d’Aix en Provence, France
1983
Dewasne, Musée de la Poste, Galerie du Messager, Paris, France
1982
Dewasne, Galerie Jean Six, Paris, France
La Longue Marche, Forum du Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1981
Dewasne, Veranneman Foundation, Kruishoutem, Belgium
1980
Dewasne, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finlan
1979
Dewasne, La Maison des Arts et Loisirs, Thonon-les-Bains, France
Dewasne, Galerie Sapone, Nice, France
Dewasne, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas (MACC), Caracas, Venezuela
1978
Antisculptures, Maxi-Peintures, Gouaches, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Conceptions, Institut Français, Stockholm, Sweden
Dewasne, Maison de la Culture, Ris-Orangis, France, organised by George Boudaille
Dewasne, Atelier de Recherche Esthétique, Caen, France
Dewasne, Galerie de Seine, Paris, France
Dewasne, Centre Culturel Noroit, Arras, France
1977
Dewasne, Maison de la Culture, Annecy, France
12 Antisculptures at the Salon Gröningen, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
Gouaches and Drawings, Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Antiscultpures and Gouaches, Nordjütlandisches Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, Denmark
Antisculptures and Gouaches, Kunstverein Kolding, Denmark
Antisculptures, Maxi-peintures, Gouaches, Les Ateliers du Grand Hornu, Mons, Belgium
Antisculptures, Maxi-Paintings, Gouaches, Henie-Onstadt Art Centre, Oslo, Norway
1976
Dewasne, Centre d’Art et de Communication, Vaduz, Lichtenstein
1975
Dewasne, Carnegie Institute Foundation, Pittsburgh, USA (exhibiting La Longue Marche and Habitacle Rouge)
Les Maxi Tableaux, Basle Fair, Switzerland
Dewasne, Antisculptures Cerveaux-Mâles, Musée d’Art Modernede la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Dewasne, Kunstverein, Hanover, Germany
Dewasne, Galerie Lucien Durand, Paris, France
1974–75
Dewasne. La Longue Marche, Orly-Ouest Airport, Orly, France
1974
Dewasne, Galleria Vismara, Milan, Italy
Dewasne, Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek, Denmark (exhibiting La Longue Marche and Habitacle Rouge)
Dewasne, North Jutland Art Museum, Aalborg, Denmark
Dewasne, Galleria d’arte Beniamino, San Remo, Italy
Dewasne, Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela: permanent installaton of a mural painting
Dewasne, Galerie Artel, Geneva, Switzerland
1973
Dewasne, Galerie Françoise Tournié, Paris, France
1972
Jean Dewasne, Lefevre Gallery, New York, USA
1971
Dewasne, Galerie Creuzevault, Paris, France (the mural painting Habitacle Mythia is exhibited on the four walls of the exhibition room)
1970
Dewasne, Musée Modern Museum, Brussels, Belgium
Peintures murales de Jean Dewasne, Centre Culturel, Bobigny, France
Dewasne 70, Musée d’Art Moderne de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
1969
Dewasne: La Longue Marche, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Dewasne: La Longue Marche, ARC, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
1968
Represents France at the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1967–68
Dewasne, set of monumental paintings commissioned by the Ministère de la Jeunesse et des Sports and the City of Grenoble, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France. These works were installed in the Stade de Glace (ice skating rink) in Grenoble for the opening of the Olympic Games.
1966
Rétrospective Dewasne, Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland
1965
Dewasne, Galleria La Polena,Genova, Italy
1963
Dewasne, Galerie Hybler, Copenhagen, Denmark
Jean Dewasne baroque, Galerie Cordier, Paris, France
1962
Dewasne, Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery, New York, USA
1961
Jean Dewasne, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italy
1959
Dewasne, Reflection on Abstract Art, lecture at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
1958
Dewasne, Galleria d’arte del Grattacielo, Milan, Italy
1957
Galerie Daniel Cordier, Paris, France
1955
Dewasne, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
1954
Galeria Moncloa, Lima, Peru
1949
Arne Brunn Rasmussen Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
1941
Galerie Jacquet, Galerie l’Esquisse, Quai des Orfèvres, Paris, France
GROUP SHOWS (SELECTION)
2008
Musée Ingres, Montauban, France
1991
Rétrospective – 50 ans de Réflexion en Art contemporain à Noroit, Centre Culturel Noroit, Arras, France, also exhibited at Le Touquet, at Air-sur-la-Lys and Wizernes
1990
Donation Daniel Cordier, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France: The Centre Georges Pompidou receives Prométhée from the collector and gallery owner Daniel Cordier, a series of ten gouaches from the Olympic Games in 1968, and a painting dated 1945 from the artist
Art dans le métro, Centre Georges Pompidou: Dewasne exhibits works from the ‘Underground’ series, related to the Hanover underground train system 2000 ans de peintre, de Pompei à la Grande Arche, Bibliothèque Forney, Hôtel de Sens, Paris, Dewasne exhibits four studies for La Grande Arche.
At the Chicago Art Fair, Galerie 44 from Kaarst (Germany) devotes a solo exhibition to Dewasne’s Antiscultures paintings
Venice Biennale, Dewasne exhibits Tombeau d’Anton Webern (1951)
1989
Années 50, Paris, Dewasne exhibits Apothéose de Marat, La Joie de vivre and Prométhée
1988–89
Grands travaux du Président, travelling exhibiton: New York, USA; Tokyo, Japan; Osaka, Japan; Seoul, Corea; Copenhagen, Denmark; Paris, France: Dewasne exhibits his models for La Grande Arche for La Défense in Paris
1984
Un art autre – un autre art, Galerie Artcurial, Paris, France
Un Musée : des chefs-d'œuvres,Musée d'art moderne de Liège au Centre culturel Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, France
1981
Paris – Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France: Dewasne exhibits L’Apothéose de Marat, in the École de Paris in the same centre
1978
Trois Villes – Trois Collections, CNAC, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1977
Gröningen, 14 Antisculptures, Copenhagen, Denmark
Opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France: Dewasne exhibits Tombeau d’Anton Webern
1972
12 ans d’Art Contemporain en France, Grand Palais, Paris, France
The São Paulo Art Biennial
Exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
1970
Art et Architecture, bilan et problèmes du 1%, Halles de Baltard, Paris, France
1968
Represents France at the Venice Biennale, Italy: three mural paintings and the Antisculptures Gisants
1964
Galerie Daniel Cordier, Paris
1956
Dewasne – Dubuffet – Matta, Galerie Daniel Cordier, Paris
1952
Represents France at the Venice Biennale, Italy
1944
Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Paris, France
Salon des Indépendants, Paris, France
Salon d’Automne, Paris, France
Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, Paris, France
Salon de Mai, Paris, France
Linien, Copenhagen, Denmark
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
MOMA, New York, USA
Centre Pompidou, France
Musée de Cambrai, France
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
National Gallery of Denmark, Danemark
LAAC Dunkerque, France
Musée départemental Matisse, France
Statens Museum Copenhague, Danemark
CNAP-FNAC, France