Jacques Germain (1915-2001)

Born in Paris in 1915, Jacques Germain emerged as a central figure in the post-war Abstraction Lyrique movement, contributing to the European response to American Abstract Expressionism, alongside his peers such as Georges Mathieu, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, and Jean-Paul Riopelle. He began his arts education at the Académie Moderne, studying under Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant. In 1931, at the age of 16, he enrolled at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, where he was mentored by Wassily Kandinsky. After a brief return to Paris the following year, he soon returned to Germany to study with constructivist painter Willi Baumeister. During this period, Germain met literary critic and translator Marthe Robert, whom he later married, forging a significant personal and intellectual bond.

The outbreak of World War II in interrupted Germain’s early career, as he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Germany for more than three years. Liberated after the war, he returned to Paris and devoted himself to painting, marking his public debut at the Salon des Surindépendants in 1947. Initially experimenting with geometric abstraction, Germain soon developed a distinctive style defined by vigorous gestural expression, characterized by fragmented rectangular forms, and enlivened by vibrant chromatic accents. This emotive and lyrical approach, praised for its intensity, established him as a leading post-war abstract painter. In 1958, art historian Michel Seuphor positioned Germain within a lineage of French artists, including Jean Bazaine, Maurice Estève, and Frédéric Lombard, who advanced the coloristic tradition of Robert Delaunay.

By the end of the 1940s, Germain’s avant-garde credentials were evident through his participation in the Blanc et Noir exhibition at the Galerie des Deux Îles in Paris, alongside luminaries such as Jean Arp, Camille Bryen, Jean Fautrier, Francis Picabia, Hans Hartung, Otto Wols, and Antoni Tàpies. In 1949, he held his first solo exhibition in Paris, and also showed with Pierre Soulages at the Atelier de Maywald. This was followed by a group show two years later, featuring Sonia Delaunay, Kandinsky, Soulages, Alberto Magnelli, and Hartung. His commitment to non-figurative art deepened through regular participation in the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, established in 1946 to champion abstract art, and the prestigious École de Paris exhibitions at Galerie Charpentier, where he showed alongside Jean Atlan, Hartung, Soulages, and Serge Poliakoff.

Germain’s international stature grew in the 1950s and 1960s, with his work featured in major exhibitions in both the United States and Europe. He held numerous solo exhibitions at esteemed European galleries, including Maeght, Pierre Loeb, Michel Warren, André Schoeller, Jacques Massol, Dina Vierny, Arnoux, Barbier-Beltz, and Kriegel.

Jacques Germain died on July 17, 2001 in Paris. His works in prominent private and institutional collections worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Musée de Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, among many others.

Sources: Hanina Fine Arts and other various sources.