Jean Marembert (1900-1968), acclaimed in his time as "The painter of the invisible" (Noêl Arnaud), or "The sculptor of dreams" (Paul Hay), lived a life as mysterious as his marvelous and enigmatic body of work.
In Montparnasse, where Marembert arrived around 1917-1918, and in Liege, Belgium, where he lived for 8 years after WWII, the painter formed professional and personal ties with important artists, poets, critics, and celebrities of the era such as André Breton, Camille Bryen, Jean Bouhier, Jean Cocteau, Serge Férat, Georges Malkine, Tapié de Ceyleran, Noël Arnaud, Marcel Béalu, Jean-Claude Chabrun, Aline Gagnaire, Fernand Marc, Serge Wellens, Georges Brassens, Juliette Gréco, le Maharaja d'Indore, Denys de la Patellière, et Jean Rousselot, among others.
Primarily self-taught, Marembert became associated with the artist and metaphysical thinker Louis Cattiaux, who encouraged Marembert to seek his imagery in dreams and poetry. Together and with artists such as Pierre Ino, Eric Olson, etc., they published the manifesto of Transhylisme (the search for that which is hidden under the surface of reality). The group exhibited at the Galerie Gravitations of Cattiaux.
As a young artist, Marembert knew André Breton, but he never joined the group gathered around the prophet of Surrealism. This artist bon-vivant always remained proudly independent, apolitical, and pursued his artistic explorations according to his personal intuitions. Through his activities as an illustrator for the poets of the reviews Demain et Sagesse, Marembert did become a moving force and the president of the group Les Réverbères which, in the years leading up to WWII, edited a review of art and poetry in the spirit of the Dada movement. Arnaud, Chabrun, Gagnaire, Tapié de Ceyleron, Jacques Bureau, and the young poet Nadine Lefebure, among others, met in the studio of Marembert, rue du Cherche-Midi. Besides their exhibitions, they organized theatrical presentations, poetry readings, and jazz performances. The group eventually disintegrated due to philosophical differences regarding the role that politics should play in the creation of art during this turbulent historical time. Some members of the group went on to found the significant, but politically aligned review, La Main à Plume.
Marembert collaborated for 10 years with the important French private dealer, Henri-Pierre Roché (best friend of Marcel Duchamp, the duo introduced many American collectors to European modern art). This period of Roché's financial support permitted Marembert to develop his phsychologic, poetic, and artistic vision of "la femme". He exhibited in Paris and, thanks to Roché, at Marie Sterner's gallery in New York. Some paintings were acquired by the Frick Art Museum and in Europe, Marembert is represented in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and of the Musées de Beaux-Arts de Grenoble et Liège. Marembert ended his partnership with Roché after the dealer arrived without invitation at the painter's studio while Marembert was recovering in hospital from his war wounds .
Marembert and Roché maintained cordial relations, but the artist, having formed a circle of faithful collectors, worked without representation for the rest of his life. This unfortunately earned him the unjust disappearance of his notoriety after his death. And, his private collectors preciously guarded his paintings, honoring the memory and talent of the artist, but creating a vacuum on the market. A renaissance of interest in the artist began with the efforts of dealer Jean Claude RIedel in the 1970s. Riedel regularly exhibited the work of Jean Marembert to create a new audience.
Marembert lived between Paris and Liege, Belgium between 1945 et 1953-54. During this time, he had an important solo exhibition at the Galerie du Carré of Liège and several literary homages published by his poet friends : Jean Cocteau, Marcel Béalu, Jean Bouhier, et Alexis Curvers, among others.
The magnificent works of this mature period are fully surrealist. Marembert continued to explore the different aspects of the female psyche. Even his bestiary, his trees, and the watery depths of his images evoke the complex humors of Eve, from passion to despair, passing through all the intermediary psychological states between.
After a first heart attack from which he recovered, Marembert was the victim of a massive stroke in 1966. Paralyzed on his right side and unable to speak, the painter, who lived passionately for his art, committed suicide in 1968 in his studio rue du Cherche-Midi.
If you would like to know more about the life and work of Jean Marembert, a monography and catalogue raisonné, Jean, Auguste Marembert : l'envoûteur envoûté, will appear on October 3, 2019. Visit the pages MONOGRAPHIE and AGENDA to follow the evolution of this publication.
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Jean Marembert, Voltige, deux nus dans la nuit, oil on canvas, 1931.
Crédit photographique: © A. Degasis.
Note: The birthdate of Jean Marembert (1900) is taken from his birth certificate. The date of 1904 that is often promulgated, is therefore incorrect.
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Toute image reproduite sur ce site est protegée par copyright et est publiée ici avec la permission de l'heritière legale de l'artiste, les propriétaires actuels des oeuvres, et le photographe. Elles ne peuvent pas être utilisées ailleurs sans permissions.
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