Marcel Pouget 
Presentation
Marcel Pouget (1923-1985), France
Marcel Pouget was born in Oran (Algeria), a fact which no doubt explains his love for the colour and light of North Africa, which influenced the palette and style of great artists such as Delacroix. Marcel Pouget’s entire oeuvre is filled with the power and science of colour. The essence of his work is his special gift for catching glimpses of the soul and capturing its tiny, almost imperceptible vibrations, which define us as humans. His work, exploring the frontier between the seen and the unseen, played a major part in launching the Nouvelle Figuration movement. He took part in exhibitions organised by the Mathieu Fels Gallery and by the very few art lovers who supported the movement for a renewal of figurative art at the time.
From 1966 onwards, he described himself as a psycho-artist – a rather barbaric term he used to refer to his exploration of what it means to be human, between consciousness and unconsciousness, reality, dreams, and fantasies. He thus created a trans-reality in which dreams mixed with politics and metaphysics. At the heart of his creative activity was his attempt to capture the moment when the body attains spirituality, like monks in certain ashrams. In his painting, this translated into the rhythm of his colourful compositions, like a sensual, initiatory dance.
In his later years, Marcel Pouget sank into a deep depression which eventually led to his hospitalisation in a psychiatric ward. This experience led him to create some of his most powerful paintings, characterised by an acuity of expression which prefigures certain works by Jörg Immendorff.
Biography
Expositions personnelles
1946 Galerie TAILLET, Oran
1949 « Les impressions d’art », Parisv 1949 Galerie BRETEAU, Paris
1949-50 Galerie SPIEBEL-BARRERO, Paris
1953 Galerie ARNAUD, Paris
1957 Galerie CLAUDE BERNARD, Paris
1960 Galerie ARIEL, Paris
1962 Galerie ARIEL et BRETEAU, Paris
1963 Galerie NOVA SPECTRA, La Haye
1965 Galerie PANESI, Ancona
1966 Galerie NORD, Lille
1966 Galerie ARIEL, Paris
1968 Galerie NORD, Lille
1969 Galerie VERANEMAN, Bruxelles
1970 Galerie NOVA SPECTRA, La Haye
1971 Galerie NORD, Lille
1978 Galerie LEROY et L’ŒIL DE BOEUF, Paris
1979 Galerie STORME,Lille
1980 Galerie DEWEVER, Wakken
1984 Galerie L’ŒIL DE BOEUF
Expositions de groupes et manifestes
1954 Divergence, Galerie ARNAUD, Paris
1960 Expressions d’aujourd’hui, Château de LUNEVILLE
1960 Kring spontaneism, Scandinavie
1961 Ecole de Paris, Galerie NOVA SPECTRA, La Haye
1961 Maison de la Pensée Française
1962 Recherche 62, Centre Américain, Paris
1962 Une Nouvelle Figuration, Galerie MATHIAS FELS, Paris
1962 Collection d’expression française, Pavillon de Marsan, Paris
1962 Resurgence, Galerie BRETEAU, Paris
1963 Idole und Dämonen, Musée de VIENNE
1964 Participe au 4ème prix Guggenheim
1964 L’Ecole de Paris, ULEO, Suède
1964 Nouvelle Figuration, Pop Art, Musées de La Haye, Vienne, Berlin, Bruxelles
1964 15 Peintres de ma génération, Galerie ARIEL, Paris
1964 28 Peintres d’aujourd’hui, Galerie SCHOELLER et BENADOR
1964 Figuration et Défiguration, Musée de Gand
1964 Le nord-Sud, Centre Américain, Paris
1964 Sculptures, Galerie CLAUDE BERNARD, Paris
1965 Promesses tenues, Musée GALLIERA, Paris
1966 Le Dessin, Galerie NORD, Lille
1967 Le Portrait, Galerie CLAUDE BERNARD,Paris
1967 Exposition de groupe, Galerie JACQUES MASSOL, Paris
1967 L’Age du Jazz, Musée GALLIERA, Paris
1967 Tur och retur, Konstarkiv, Varnamo, Suède
1968 Participe au prix MARZOTTO
1968 Nouvel Expressionisme après 1950, KUNSTMUSEUM, Lucerne
1970 Salon de Paris, Copenhague
1971 Chemins de la Création, Château d’Ancy le Franc
1974 Fondation VERANEMAN, Belgique
1977 Fondation VERANEMAN, Belgique
1978 Les Uns par les Autres, Musée de Lille
1978 Chemins de la Création, Château d’Ancy le Franc
1978 Les années 59, Galerie ARIEL, Paris
1979 Biennale de Sculptures, Formes Humaines, Musée RODIN
1981 Triennale internationale de Sculpture, GRAND PALAIS, Paris
1981 Chemins de la Création, Château d’Ancy le Franc
1983 La Maison des Artistes, Paris
1985 Et que vogue la galère, Galerie L’ŒIL DE BOEUF
Collections
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Musée national d’art moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou), divers musées à Grenoble, Alger, Tel Aviv, Göteborg, Skopje, Vienne, Fondation Verranneman (Belgique)...
Bibliographie
Konstperspektiv, 1956, n°3, « Pouget », V. Svensson
La Nef, juin 57, Jean Grenier
Konstperspektiv, 1961, N°3, E. Wretholm
Cimaise, 1962, N°60, Michel Ragon
Connaissance des Arts, novembre 1962, « La Nouvelle Figuration », Yvon Taillandier
Une Nouvelle Figuration II, Michel Ragon
Connaissance des Arts, mars 1964, « Cobra , 15 ans après », Yvon Taillandier
Figuration-Défiguration (catalogue), 1964, Musée de Gand
Kunst, janvier 1963, « La Nouvelle Figuration », Ruth Munch
Kunst, avril 1964, « Pouget », Ruth Munch
Naissance de la Peinture Moderne, Yvon Taillandier
La Peinture Expressionniste, Waldemar George, Somogy, 1960, p. 38
Naissance d’un Art Nouveau, Michel Ragon, Albin Michel
Galerie des Arts, juin 1964, « Les peintres annoncent-ils les mutations futures de l’homme ? », Yvon Taillandier
Arts et Loisirs, 1966, N°60, J. J. Levêque
Art International, janvier 1967, R. C. Kennedy
Arts et Loisirs, 1967, N°82, Gilbert Gatellier
New Tendencies in Art, 1966, p.199-201, Aldo Pellegrini, Elek Book , London
L’Art et le Monde Moderne, René Huyghe et Jean Rudel, Larousse 1970, Tome II, p.386
Erotic Art, planche couleur, Grove Press 1970, Tome 2
Depuis 45 l’Art de Notre Temps, Ed. La Connaissance, Bruxelles, 1973, Tome III
La Revue 9 et 2, 1973, N°3, « Pouget, Psycho-peintre »
Connaissance des Arts, 1975, « La Fondation Veraneman »
La Grande Encyclopédie Larousse, Vol. 8, p. 4880, Nouvelle Figuration
Petit Larousse de la Peinture, 1979, Nouvelle Figuration, p. 1301
Free speech
Press
Born in Oran in 1923, died in 1985
An abstract expressionist at the start, Marcel Pouget becomes the leader of the new figuration in the 1960’s.
Alternating between Symbolism and Expressionism, his painting results from “autosuggested” hallucinations.
After a stay in a psychiatric hospital he paints several series on this topic. He is shown in many exhibitions during his lifetime, and his work can be found in numerous international collections: The Veranneman Foundation (Belgium), Tel Aviv Museums (Israël), Museums in Göteborg, Stopjie, and Vienna (Austria), as well as the National Museum of Modern Art (centre Georges Pompidou, Paris) and the National Fund for Contemporary Art (FNAC).
Galerie Ariel (Paris 8e) regularly shows his work.
