Jean-Michel Atlan
Jean-Michel Atlan was born in Constantine, Algeria, on the 23 January 1913. He became a prominent member of the Art Informel movement, alongside artists like Hans Hartung and Karel Appel. As a young adult, he moved to Paris to study philosophy at the Sorbonne.
World War II had a profound impact on Atlan. From 1940 to 1941, he taught at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris but was forced to leave due to anti-Semitic laws. He and his wife relocated to Montparnasse, where he discovered his passion for painting. During this time, his first poems were published. Despite the hardships of the Occupation, he continued to paint and write. He joined the Résistance but was arrested in 1942 and imprisoned at La Santé. By feigning insanity, he managed to get interned at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne in 1943. There, he painted and wrote a collection of poems titled Sang profond, published shortly after the Liberation in November 1944.
After the war, his experiences deeply influenced his work, giving it a darker, more introspective tone. His first art exhibition was held in December 1944 at Arc-en-Ciel, a gallery-bookshop on rue de Sèvres in Paris. The public received his work well, despite the surprise at his expressionist figurative style. In 1945, he exhibited four non-figurative paintings at the Salon des Surindépendants, hinting at his future style.
Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, Atlan's work evolved to blend surrealism, symbolism, and primitive art. He became a significant figure in the post-war Parisian art scene, associating with artists like Soulages, Hans Hartung, and Serge Poliakoff. He was also linked to the CoBrA group and became part of the Abstraction lyrique movement. His bold strokes, abstract figures, and play of darkness and light became defining features of his work.
In 1951, he participated in the Exposition Internationale d’Art Expérimental in Liège, and from 1953, his work gained success in Japan. He exhibited in Israel in 1953 and Yugoslavia in 1954. He also participated in the São Paulo Biennial in 1955 and 1957.
Atlan continued to exhibit his work widely, including in the Nouvelle École de Paris, Tokyo, and various galleries in Paris and beyond. He held solo exhibitions in 1957 at Galerie Dupont in Lille, France, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium, and Musée Picasso-Antibes in Antibes, France. In 1958, he exhibited at the Galleria Naviglio in Milan, Italy, and had a travelling exhibition in Germany.
Tragically, Atlan's life was cut short when he died on the 12 Februray,1960, at the age of 47. His last paintings were shown in March 1960 at the Contemporaries Gallery in New York. Despite his premature death, he left a legacy of powerful and evocative works that continue to captivate art enthusiasts and historians.
His artworks are part of prestigious collections, including The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, France (with a retrospective exhibition in 1980); MoMA in New York, USA; Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Canada; the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, France; and Tate London, UK.
